This is What it Costs to Keep You
by jackallascarian
Summary: Recent studies have noted a rapid decline in the dragon-type populations of Hoenn, and so the Association has decided to contact a few thousand experienced trainers who satisfy three conditions and can capture, evolve and release the now abundant primary evolutionary forms. Planned, experimental, multi-chapter OT-fic. Warnings: swearing, violence and dark themes. Updates monthly.
1. Chapter One

Hoenn was calling.

Even far, far across the ocean in the centre of the Sinnoh region, I could feel it. It was like a volcano erupting, or a legend preparing a Hyper Beam. Energy rolled off of it in waves, passed over the water and disturbed the currents. They cascaded against many far shores, one of them on my own region. The remains of my soul trembled as I approached the southern shore. The salt in the wind exploded on the surface of my body like land mines and the rough waves threatened me from just beyond the sand. Despite the sea's rejection, I felt pulled towards that island in the distance.

I had to be there.

But the ocean was wide. The Sinnohan government, at least, had planned their regions well. Without assistance I could not travel to the far shores. And without a trainer, I would be caught…or worse. Killed.

To get there, I'd have to be with a human. If not, Hoenn's gatekeepers would reject me. My only option had been the human to which I'd been assigned, but she was out of reach. Her snarling psychic had struck my beacon from her like a star from the sky, and it had burned out before I could find them. I'd been forced to follow her siblings, as they bickered and fought and embraced in the empty routes of Sinnoh.

* * *

"Go find your sister first," Lumine, the older sister said. She was imitating their mother in a high-pitched, mocking tone for the third time that day.

Resko, her brother, laughed for the third time, still loud and still humourless. He whistled loudly, and his salamence flew down to land beside them with a thump. The sun was draining my energy like sand through an hourglass, and I only just managed to sway out of the way of the dragon-type. She would not have seen me, but she would have felt me, and then her trainer would know.

She extended one wing towards Resko, and he ran a hand down the bony ridge of it, then grabbed the base. After a second, Resko swore and let go when her sun-baked skin scorched him. Lumine laughed at him, but exhaustion had stamped out that mocking tone.

* * *

I hovered aimlessly as they walked and talked. My mind began to fold inwards to conserve energy, and it wasn't until one of the sibling's pokémon let out a burst of psychic energy that I struggled back to full consciousness again.

They were preparing to Teleport. Two huge steel bell-like pokémon floated on either side of the two trainers, one belonging to each. Somewhere in my mind lay their names, but I didn't have the energy to look for them. Shell-pink energy encircled the group like a tornado, beginning to thicken and grow as it powered up. With a burst of energy, I threw a hand created from dark energy at them. It wrapped around the boy, and squeezed. I was too tired to attach it gently, and his mouth opened wordlessly in pain a second before we vanished.

In the next second, we were within a cave. With the dregs of my power, I jostled the roof to drop a volley of sharp rocks on the boy and distract him from my stranglehold. I could feel my consciousness slipping. The darkness of Mt. Coronet dampened the heated pain from over-exposure to the sun, but it was not enough. I slowly shut down every other ability, and watched as the siblings walked towards my human. I didn't have the energy to find her alone.

* * *

"What the f-!" Resko screeched as a number of small rocks bounced off of his shoulder. He jerked away and rubbed at the sore skin.

"What?" Lumine asked flatly. "What did you do?"

"What did I do?! A bunch of rocks just fell on me!" he said, and yelped after rubbing a particularly sore spot.

Stanton the bronzong swiped the rocks away from where they lay by his feet and Resko thanked him. '_I can sense your sister and her team. They are fighting wild pokémon. I was not going to drop you in the middle of a battle. Follow this tunnel._' Stanton murmured into their minds. The cavern suddenly lit up bright pink as the bronzong glowed with psychic energy. He pointed down the path to their right, then split his own pokéball at the seams, and let the red light devour him.

Resko yelped again and fumbled the ball as it fell from the air. Ansia, Lumine's bronzong, hovered silently while her trainer cackled in response.

"Alright," Lumine said to no one in particular. They walked along the tunnel slowly, picking their way over displaced rocks and small holes in the ground. Ansia silently kept the zubat off of them with shot, bursting Psychic attacks.

At the end of the tunnel was a bright room, lit up with the tell-tale yellow tinge of a Flash attack.

In the middle was a huge battle. As they entered, they saw an onix hovering lengthways in the air, encased in a tornado of static-y pink energy. It went flying across the room and crashed against a far wall. In the middle of the huge room was a lake, with most of Luka's team fought with several wild pokémon. They looked around until they spotted her sitting on the far right by a large rock, and jogged over.

* * *

I reached for my human. She looked down, and didn't move when I tethered myself. Dark energy wrapped around my body and hers; an infernal Destiny Bond. I saw through her eyes and skimmed her thoughts, but my presence was so weak that her psychic would not see me.

The darkness was cool and warm in equal measure, and I breathed out slowly and let it take the pain away.

* * *

The psychic, Carrow the claydol returned to hover just above the huge lake after knocking out the onix. He occasionally dispersed bolts of psychic energy as various gyarados and whiscash appeared. If not defeated immediately by that, Jackal the luxray and Asio the tall, dark brown stantler, finished the job, from where they stood at two corners of the lake, equidistant from Carrow, who was directly across from Remni. In the water, a huge sharpedo attempted to lure a silky-looking dragonair from the depths, occasionally Aqua Jetting off to corral it away from the deeper areas. Her remaining two pokémon, a togekiss and a skarmory, were not present.

Remni, their sort-of-missing sister, had placed herself right in the middle of a pile pokéballs and paper. Several of the pokéballs already had shadowed inhabitants, and a scrawled list of half-written details sat in the exact middle. She started when she saw them and asked, "Uh, hey guys? What are you doing here?".

"You got a letter," Lumine said, nonplussed, as Jackal Thunderbolted a gyarados hard enough for it to careen backwards before sinking below the surface.

"…Like Raune's?" She turned fully towards them, jostling some of the objects on the floor, then grinned and asked, "I can go to Hoenn?"

"Was something stopping you?" Resko asked sarcastically. He was somewhat bitter about travelling all the way to Mt. Coronet just to find her.

"Yes," Lumine answered her, ignoring Resko. "There are ferries departing from Sunyshore City in a few weeks, for a few weeks." She said again, and Carrow froze in mid-air.

"Look…I…I'm excited, you know I am!" she said enthusiastically. "But Mum and I have a contract. This is- this is work! I can't just leave!"

"Fuck the contract," Lumine replied, not entirely joking.

"This is important," Resko added. "Really important. We're going to be helping people- maybe an entire region! Mum'll understand."

Remni chewed her lip in agitation. In her lap, her hands played over and over each other. Red marks appeared on her knuckles where her nails had caught the skin.

Lumine noticed her sister's anxious fidgeting, and knelt down with a tired sigh. She lay one hand over Remni's to stop the damage. "Let's go home. You can talk to Mum, sort your shit, then we'll go."

Remni looked up at her sister and slowly smiled. "Okay, Lumi. Give me a minute."

It ended up taking much, much longer. Carrow the claydol had frozen like a statue when Lumine brandished Remni's letter, waving it like a fan in the stagnant cave air.

Remni had angled herself back towards him and after a short psychic conversation he turned back, knocking another gyarados back beneath the waves. Suddenly the water went still, and the dragonair peeked out over the edge of the deep lake. Ice blossomed across the lake in a semi-circle behind her, and a quick, tiny jolt from Jackal paralysed her. The others set about slowly whittling down her energy, with Carrow methodically setting up Protective barriers in front of each team member. Jackal copped a Dragon Rage right across his cheek, and reared back in pain, a tail slap sent a huge plume of water towards Carrow, who deflect the Aqua Tail with a Psychic, and a jolting Thunder Wave missed Asio by an inch. Fully submerged, Nikko rained small Bites against the dragon-types underbelly to keep it in the shallower area.

"It's gonna be a long day," Resko said, then sighed.

After only three days on the mountain before they interrupted her, Remni insisted on going through her whole song-and-dance in capturing two other dragonair and a dratini, to make a more significant dent in the breeder-provided list. They finally managed to drag her home after the third capture, wherein Asio had made a fantastic leap into the water to stop the dratini from slipping away, in a moment where a huge gyarados had appeared out of the depths and caught Nikko fully in its mouth.

Several days had to pass before the recently obtained dragon-types could be shipped, and despite her grumbles, Remni had to sign off on their movement. Tracking pokémon shipments in Sinnoh was a pain, but at least something was being done about the recent poaching issues.

"Shi!" One of the shinx kittens sunk its tiny needle-sharp teeth into the fleshy part of her palm and Remni yelped, jerking on reflex.

She quickly reached down and pressed her thumb and forefinger to the hinge of its jaw, applying pressure until the tiny pokémon's jaws eased open. Once it was fully free, she snatched her hand back and shook it, eyeing the bloodless marks that were beginning to redden against her dark skin. The shinx was tiny, but average for six-week-old kittens. She shooed them away from the brown-striped white tiled corner of their little fenced off enclosure, and placed the warm lunch bowl inside. It was shallow, but wide, and when she poured a mostly-liquid mixture of tauros stock, vitamins and bits of charred starly meat, there was enough room for all eight of the shinx to get their mouths in it. She turned to scrub at the inner sides of their small, elongated water trough, and unlatched it from the wall, then walked outside the old metal shed to toss the water into the dirt.

In front of her, a veritable maze of rich soil with everything from seedlings to fully grown plants snaked between a myriad of small ponds and other, larger sheds, butting up against an oval-shaped lake and the edges of a forest, before finally curling back and ended up at a large wooden house adjacent to her, on the right.

It was tall, painted mostly in reds and browns and had a farfetch'd-topped compass perched on the highest part, making it easily mistaken for a farm from the road, which is probably what led to the expensive-looking car rolling to a sinking stop in their driveway, which really was just a flat area of land leading from the road to the house.

She took a minute to shake out the lingering droplets from the trough and gaze at said house, a warm sense of comfort curling in her chest, then turned back to the lake and forest in the distance, where the warmth went flat and wary in her stomach.

"Who do you think is going to come out tonight?' she mused aloud, and a huge lion-like pokémon shot her a look from where he stretched against the shed wall. "You know new people always get complaints, which wouldn't be so bad if those complaints didn't involve broken fences and frightened baby pokémon." A psychic, snarky thought jolted across the outskirts of her mind, projected from somewhere in the house and she rolled her eyes. " I think we better keep both Asio and Laiza out tonight, huh Jackal?" she peered down at him, while he peered back, eyes large and red and yellow.

"Ux," he growled, leaning forward to place his chin on his outstretched paws.

"What does that mean again?" she asked playfully.

'_There's a call for you._' Carrow's voice cut through her lazy, sun-warmed thoughts like a knife, and she leaned up onto her heels.

'_Okay,_' she said in response. Inside her mind, she projected the word towards where Carrow's voice had come from. He didn't reply, but she knew from communicating in the past that he had heard her.

She ran up the dirt path, leapt the doorway and dodged the couch. An older, wall-mounted screen hung at the far end, and on it was a split-screen displaying three different people in three different rooms.

"Eti! Risa! Alexei!" Remni said cheerfully.

"Take your time, seriously," Risa joked. The white-haired girl reclined on her bed with her screen in her lap. In the background, Remni could see a mess of clothes, cans and a sleeping bag. She was packing.

"Hey, rude!" The only boy of their group scolded her. Alexei sat at the table in his own living room, the screen presumably on his table. He had dyed-blonde hair with brown roots, and it kept falling across his face. He was in the middle of pulling the mess back into a ponyta-tail.

"Enough, you two," Eti, the last of them, said lightly. She was lying on her stomach on her own bed, with her chin propped up on her hands. Her light brown hair fell in her eyes and flowed down her cheeks and across her neck. Remni winced sympathetically at the sweat the beaded along Eti's forehead, and was suddenly grateful that Carrow had cut her hair short a few nights previous. The cut was sort of lopsided, but it was cool and comfortable. She scooped her warm feelings into a little affectionate package, and mentally pushed it towards him like a gift. She felt the tentative touch as he reached for it, the surprised jolt, then the slow growth of an answering warmth. She grinned.

"Resko said you got your letter?" Eti asked.

"Yup!" Remni said and grinned. "Two weeks overdue, but better late than never! Thanks again for waiting for me."

"I knew you'd get it," Risa said and rolled her eyes. But the corners of her lips tugged up into a grin.

"There's a ferry departing from Sunyshore City in two days…" Alexei said, and glanced off-screen.

"Aren't there ferries leaving every day?" Eti asked.

"Yeah, but I _kinda_ want us to be on that one," he answered.

"Like it, love it, gotta have it!" Risa said, and clapped her hands together, making the others laugh.

"Alright, alright!" Remni said, still laughing, "I'll meet you in Sunyshore?"

"We live in the same freaking town, Remni," Alexei said.

"Yeah but! I gotta talk to my parents… I don't want to make you wait longer," she replied, and her eyes widened earnestly.

"We waited for you because we want to travel with you," Eti explained calmly. "Not out of obligation. When you're ready, we'll go."

The others were quiet in the wake of her words, but Remni nodded, excitedly. "Okay!"

As it turned out, her mother didn't need convincing.

"Remni," Alaine had said in her best lecturing tone. "Of course you can leave! The contract was just to make the process legitimate. I'd rather not be sued for child labour," she said, and laughed. It was a scratchy sound, but familiar and warm.

Remni couldn't help but smile when she heard Alaine. "Mum, I'm nineteen. I haven't legally been a child for nine years," Remni replied. She tried to laugh, but the stress of asking, and of possibly disappointing her mother crashed on her shoulders like a wave, and her eyes prickled as tears grew in the corners.

"Ah, yes. But you're still _my_ child," her mother had answered, and dragged Remni into a hug.

Later that night, after her pokémon had run the forest nearby, everyone had dinner and her father had retired to the study without making eye contact, the video phone rang again.

"I'll get it!" Remni's younger brother, Rio, yelled. He shoved his chair back from the table and ran to the other room. He returned after a second, pouting, and said, "It's for you, Rem. _Again._" Her youngest sister, Lahnu, stuck her tongue out at Rio, and the two immediately started arguing.

"Mum she stuck her tongue out at me!"

"You're such a dobber, you baby!"

Remni dodged out of that argument and into the lounge room as fast as her legs could carry her.

A few minutes later, Remni whined, "I can't believe you _left_ without me." Her tone was part mocking irritation and part genuine betrayal, and on-screen it made her twin, Raune, pull a face.

"I didn't know you'd get a letter!" he exclaimed.

"You still could've waited! It wasn't impossible!" she shouted back, then shied away as she caught a few people looking curiously over Raune's shoulders. He spun around and waved them off.

"Ignore them, Rem. Anyway, we'll see each other at the big meeting thing anyway!" he offered.

"Actually," Lumine cut in. Remni nearly jumped off the couch, and twisted around to see her older sister leaning against the wall. "You, Resko and I have been called north. One of the League's workers called Resko and asked us to go up there and investigate rumours about a rampaging pokémon."

"Just you?" Remni asked in confusion.

"No. There's three others, and we're all working under a ranger. We have to visit the research facility afterwards to get our dragons."

She considered it for several seconds, then said, "…Well then, you have to travel with me when we get there."

"What? Why?"

"You always ditch! Travel with me for a couple of weeks first. You know Lumi and Resk are gonna leave, so stay with me."

"I don't want to hang out with your dumb baby friends," he groaned, but it was half-hearted at best.

"Hey screw off, and it's not like any of your friend's are going."

"Hey! I resent that! Jasper's here!" he answered defensively.

"…That guy you battled like twice and got the number of and never called?"

He glared at her, then waved her off, "Yeah alright whatever."

"Good."

"That wasn't an agreement!"

"It absolutely was," he glared and flipped her off, but she was already grinning and his actions were light-hearted.

"Eurgh, fine."

"You're acting like you have a huge problem with this and I know you don't. You _like_ my friends," Jackal wandered in at this point, and flopped down to the floor to lean his huge furry bulk against her legs.

They bickered and chatted for an extra half hour.

"Anyway!" he called all of a sudden, clapping his hands together. "I've gotta go and you've gotta come so," he waved at her with both hands, then closes them into fists and crossed them over, sticking out the thumbs, "Bye, sis!"

"What are you…" her heart stopped. "Um, yeah sure! See you soon!" she waved, hoping to make up for the stumble. The phone switched off, and she sprinted upstairs, passed her dad, who looked after her and called in confusion. She didn't answer.

Throwing open the doors of a cupboard in her room, she went rummaging through until she found an old scrapbook and took it to the desk, flipping it open and flicking through it. Jackal loped into the room just after she settled on a page.

"Ray?" he asked, wild with confusion.

"Raune and I used to try and make up a secret code when we were younger, you know, like every other kid on the planet does. We thought it'd be a cool twin thing," she answered, without looking up. "And he just…"

On the page in front of her was the same odd two-fisted thing he had done at the end of the call, and just below it was scribbled three words. She slipped into the chair and leaned heavily over the desk, re-reading them and tracing over the picture with her eyes. Jackal bolted over in concern, and she threaded her fingers through the fur at his nape.

The page said, simply, 'Warning, danger, beware.'

* * *

_Author's Notes:_

_EDIT: As of 09/16, the first seven chapters have been revised to cut out the unimportant garbage, and set up for the future chapters. As of now, every single chapter until the end has been planned (!)._

_Hello everyone and welcome to my first serious, published fanfic. My name is jackal (lower case j). I am here to cause trouble and cloud the identity of they-who-stand-behind-the-plot, until such a time that a significant numbers of chapters has been reached and it wouldn't hurt my pride for you to correctly guess about what's going on._

_Thank you so much for reading this! Don't worry about remembering the parents/siblings here. It's mostly to make a point about Sinnohan families. Of all the characters mentioned here, only Lumine, Resko and the friend group will be re-occurring. I'm including a list of each trainer and their mentioned pokémon at the end of each chapter as well for clarity. Please feel free to ask any questions you have! It's likely I've made something more complicated than it needed to be, and it confused someone! Also, the author's notes should be shorter from here on out! Thanks again =3_

_EDIT: The narrator is a character within the story that hasn't been mentioned, that's why it slips into first person every little while. I've tried to make larger line breaks between these paragraphs, but ffnet isn't letting me for some reason. My apologies for any confusion! The narrator will crop up occasionally, but for the most part will stay out of it. Their identity will be revealed in a later chapetr._

_jackal_

_Team List:_

**Lumine- Ansia **(bronzong).

**Resko- Stanton **(bronzong), (salamence).

**Remni**\- **Carrow** (claydol), **Jackal** (luxray), **Nikko** (sharpedo), **Quil** (skarmory), **Asio** (stantler), **Tanner** (togekiss).


	2. Chapter Two

Cool, quiet predawn had swirled around the pier and its inhabitants like mist, and the couple dozen people gathered at its edge huddled together as they waited for the approaching ferry to dock. Most were dark with long, warm clothes but a few had dressed brightly, and seemed unbothered.

"Shouldn't there be more people?" Remni asked hesitantly, tucked between Eti breathing slowly over her hot chocolate, and Alexei, who was almost vibrating with excitement. A snowy white bird with red and blue flecks dozed on her shoulder, head tucked between its wing and her own. Every so often she reached up to stroke lightly along its side.

"Nah," Risa said off-handedly, "Ferry's leaving every hour on the half, and for the next week and a half. There's a lot of time," her bright eyes glinted over her own tightly-wrapped scarf.

"So we could've gotten up later then?" The other trainer asked sulkily, and the group laughed at her.

"You can sleep on the boat?" Alexei offered.

She smiled back at him.

It only took about ten minutes for the large, sleek-looking white and silver ferry to dock, and another five for the Ocean Breeze to allow them aboard. Remni awkwardly patted down her sides again, unused to the physical presence of pokéballs, and followed the others up the plank. The inside was spacious while also being narrow, and had long hallways, multiple stories and various rooms, all decorated in cool blues and delicate silver.

"I feel pretty under-dressed," Risa muttered.

"I think you look lovely," Eti said sincerely.

"Pretty ugly…wait!" Alexei started, then slapped a hand over his mouth. "Oh my god, never mind," and the other three laughed all the way to their rooms.

Later, when Eti claimed first shower, no one wanted to dispute it and Alexei was sorting shiftily through the drawers, Remni opened her scruffy letter and glanced again over the contents, just to be sure. The quiet, but unfamiliar atmosphere of the ferry as it glided silently along made the back of her neck prickle, and she tucked herself up more tightly against the headboard of Risa's bed.

_"Hello Trainer/Ex-Trainer!_

_As you may or may not have heard, Hoenn is experiencing an environmental disaster. The three main active dragon populations have decreased rapidly in number, according to recent surveys down by the Slateport Marine &amp; Coastline Research Facility. While the first and/or secondary forms remain abundant, none have evolved in the recent years. As such, there is an excess of energy in the local ecosystems that is not being absorbed or recycled through the bodies of the pokémon. Higher evolutionary forms recycle much more energy than lower forms, especially the dragon-types, which are known for their overwhelming power, and the sudden lack has had significant results. The weather patterns in Hoenn are becoming intense and unpredictable, and entire ships and airplanes have vanished. It has been theorized that the excess energy could possibly forcibly evolve other pokémon, or increase aggression in existing pokémon. We need experienced trainers to move into the region, for at least a year, and catch and raise the pokémon swablu, trapinch, vibrava, bagon and shelgon and evolve and release them as altaria, flygon and salamence. These pokémon will not be kept. Trainers invited number in the thousands, and will hopefully also help to stabilize the economy, as the opening of the new region of Kalos has caused the emigration of many of our young trainers have moved there. There are three conditions to your being invited, you must be over sixteen, have completed at least two gym circuits (not necessarily including the elite four) and not have a criminal record. Should the last condition be broken while you are present in Hoenn, the pokémon you raised will be taken away and you will be sent to your home region. A number of trainers already present in Hoenn will also be assisting our cause._

_If you do wish to help, understanding that, at the very least, this is a one-year commitment; ferries will be leaving from any port in your region close to Hoenn, for two weeks between the 24th of this month and the 7th of the next. Please arrive as soon as possible. We will convene at Route 111, just north of Mauville. This is a large, spacious plains area and will allow for us to address every trainer at once. Directions and all of the information that you need to know will be supplied here._

_We greatly appreciate your help in this matter._

_The Pokémon Association._

The bed dipped suddenly, and she jumped when Alexei rolled against her side, grinning up at her. "Wanna go up and look around the deck?" he asked.

"Sure," she answered, patting her sides down for the umpteenth time and retrieved a second great ball from an inner pocket.

The narrow wooden halls ended graciously with signs and every larger room held a colour-coded map, so it only took twenty minutes of distracted wandering until they emerged from a stairwell that looked like every other one into bright light and slightly warm air. Tanner fluttered at the temperature change, but re-settled calmly against her neck. The deck was a wide, large area with chairs and even a shallow pool. The front deck narrowed to a smooth point at the front of the ferry. Railing at waist height encircled the entire area, and a walkway of about a metre width lead to the rear part of the deck, allowing people and pokémon to walk past the large middle of the boat, which housed other rooms as well as the wheel house. It towered half a dozen metres above their heads, and was flanked by a few large poles, each of which supported two large, temporary shade clothes over both parts of the deck.

A dark-skinned shipmate in a blue-and-white-striped shirt and a machoke walked over to them immediately. Remni started at the approach and ducked back a little, which caught Alexei's attention. Lilium the roserade looked up as well, and Tanner began to bristle, but all the shipmate said was, "Hi. Please remember to only have a maximum of two pokémon per trainer out at any time, and none exceeding fifth-tier weight class." There was a pause, but neither friend said anything. Finally, the machoke seemed to nod, and they both drifted off.

Remni looked out over the stern and across the ocean- it had been a few hours, so Sinnoh was just an extensive, vague landmass in the distance. She turned and looked out over the bow, but she couldn't see Hoenn. It was warm enough that she loosened her scarf, and shrugged her jacket a little. The occasional brush of cool air against the skin of her throat was nice. A thumb soothed once across her shoulder, and when she turned to him, Alexei's dark eyes crinkled as he smiled.

"You want to let Quil out too?" he asked, tossing an ultra ball back and forth between his hands. She recognized the faint blue streak across the underside of it.

"Yeah. Uh…should you be letting him out here?" her eyes caught on the ball twice before she could meet the other trainer's again, but he just grinned.

"Ferries have pretty smooth movement, it shouldn't upset his motion sickness too much," they moved much closer to the railing anyway, and Quil was delighted to perch on the railing and feel the morning breeze.

The tall blue duck that Alexei released was less pleased.

As soon as Lotus stopped blowing chunks over the side, and accepted an apologetic head-pat, Alexei withdrew him for a huge, slinky blue-and-black feline. Cineraria, despite the thick muscle in his legs and the heavy bones most luxray had, was only recognized as a third-tier weight class.

"Cin! Easy!" The blonde squawked as the luxray threw himself heavily against his trainer's legs, then again when the electric-type turned to him, swiping his sandpaper tongue across Alexei's wrist, who flailed trying to flick the stickiness free. Remni laughed, then squeaked and quickly jerked away when he spun to wipe it on her. Tanner squawked as she was displaced, and flapped over to perch next to the preening skarmory, both of them sharing a look. Luckily for Remni, Cin kept Alexei pinned, and he eventually gave up on his blue-haired friend to smear it on his pokémon's snout. Risa, her crobat and damp-haired Eti and her kricketune caught up at this point, and they meandered abut above deck until the ship docked. Nervous, Remni kept close to her friends the whole time, worried about the unfamiliar region and more so about her brother's message

Over the course of the entire trip, no trainer battles occurred. Occasionally one of the many bird pokémon, either the passenger's or the shipmate's, would peel off to chase away the lone pelipper, wingull and even a curious mantine. Sometimes trainer pokémon would spar with their own teams, but most seemed quietly uninterested and an undercurrent of tension and expectation ran through the entire ship.

* * *

As time passed in the darkness, I could feel energy slowly feed back into my body. It welled up from beneath Hoenn like a spring, and seeped into my body. Though the ship was still quite far out, I sensed the barrier as it approached. It encircled the region entirely, and was invisible to most other pokémon and humans. It pulsed eagerly under my touch, but I was forced to jerk away as the caster swivelled its gaze towards me. I could wait. I would wait. There was time.

The land disappeared behind me and over the horizon. As Hoenn's energy seeped inside me, I decided to test its limits. I pulled back my feelers from the distant Hoenn region, and swept it over the ship. Before I could react, red eyes lit up inside the tiny cargo hold of the ship, and a thin wave of darkness flowed out over it. Awful, sharp noises resounded through my senses. An entire section of my vision went dark and-

* * *

Hundreds of miles to the north was an area of land that held a small tangle of jutting, rocky precipices. Mountains pierced the sky like fangs, sharp and tall enough that the circling clouds obscured the tops from view. The cool air pressed against my sides as if it were a thick, cold blanket. Two people in thick clothes were on the very edge of a slope, one held in the grasp of a large ursaring. A clear cylinder was clutched in the claws of its other arm. I floated closer, feeling the cool wisps of cloud just barely brush against my skin. The two people were calm, affectionate and the huge normal-type beside them was attentive. I reached out psychically, intending to brush against their minds, or invade them entirely but a voice rang out. Low pitched but soothing and entirely unrecognisable. I turned and re-entered the mist.

* * *

Locking on to another set of almost familiar and still young human energies, I ended up far a distance south and then west again from the previous mountain. This time, a worn room, the patterns matching but faded and with low ceilings. I could hear two voices, alternating between whispers and normal volume level, like they were unused to quiet places. It was slightly muffled, like there was something solid between them, and when I blinked and the darkness didn't fade, I realised I was the one shut away. Around me, a number of eyes began to light up, simple, large and white with huge dark irises beginning to glow yellow at the edges. Cloth whispered against my sides as I turned slowly, a line of eyes to either side of my body.

'_hello_' three of them crooned at once.

'Hello. I apologise for breaking in like this, I am looking for my human.' I answered, feeling a little out of my depth. I tried to move backwards and slowly float towards the back of the closet, but there was a myriad of eyes peering back at me there as well.

'_ah._'

'_sorry._'

'_good luck!_'

I couldn't tell which voice came from where, and spun about, trying to see all of them. I felt a pulse of something soft but insistent, and followed it as they bid me farewell.

* * *

Anxious, I arrived in a yawning, green-coated valley, a dozen younger trainers watched as a two humans with bandage-wrapped hands hit at and threw each other around. Aggression and unfamiliarity radiated off of them in waves and I physically flinched away. One of them looked up just as I Teleported away again.

* * *

Miles into the blue, blue sky I caught my breath. My insides squirmed and burned, and my skin prickled as the clean, uninterrupted sunlight poured over it. The energy that I'd received had drained away like it was never there, and I shuddered and held still as the void inside me demanded more. It twisted and ached voraciously, and sucked the power from the clouds around me and the land below into my body. The force of the foreign, natural energy made me dizzy. It was all I could to hold on and let it fill me.

The air was cool and vaguely sweet, and my eyes tracked a huge, human-carrying green dragon make its way across the sky. Finally, I felt a soft tug at my heart, like the chain of an anchor slowly settling into a seabed, I tugged at it and pulled myself back to a docking boat.

* * *

I hung back as it neared the jetty. The edges of the barrier touched down into the water a few paces away from the shore. I called out rings of dark energy, and looped them around my human, fully ensnaring and solidifying our bond. It didn't have exactly the same effect as a pokéball, but it would be enough for this guardian.

I moved forwards and pressed ever-so-slightly against the thick bubble of energy. It depressed lightly under my touch, then passed over my body like a breath of air. I held still as the caster turned its eyes back onto me. Whole seconds passed in silence. The unmoveable pressure of the psychic's gaze pinned and swept through me. It examined each part of me; my thoughts, my emotion, my intentions. I felt a shiver of emotion pass underneath the vast surface of the psychic's consciousness as it felt me out, then it moved on.

'_You will stay with your trainer, as are the rules,_' it said coolly.

I bristled, and the words '_She is _not_ my trainer._' Rose to the surface. Its presence whipped around so quickly that I did not have time to react, and it pinned me.

'_Then perhaps you are not meant to be here._'

I carefully held back a sigh, and smoothed my temperament. '_I am not here to harm your region,_' I said reassuringly.

The psychic swept over me again, its thoughts entangling with mine and gleaning fragments, but leaving nothing. It moved on wordlessly.

I opened my eyes from the inner conflict, and looked out over the region. New humans flooded in from the different seaside ports like ants. They dispersed into the region. The sway and pull of the deep reservoir of energy covered the entire boundary, from the heat-soaked volcano town to the flower-spotted plains of the island that held Hoenn's governing body. It was just a strong in the bustling inner-city towns as the empty sea routes. There was no central point- no obvious origin.

The psychic's words echoed in my mind. I followed my human.

* * *

Risa stretched as soon as she was free of the ferry's doorway. She sniffed keenly at the salty air, but was quickly shoved down the iron bridge by an irate Alexei. Eti and Remni wandered down after him, closely followed by Lumine and Resko.

Most people moved off immediately, as all checks had been done before departure, hurriedly moving northeast towards the designated meeting zone. Many chatted earnestly as they passed by, and Remni, quiet in the face of Alexei and Risa's soft bickering, caught a few snatches of conversation:

"What the _fuck_, Adrian-"

"-heard a bunch of old sailboats by Slateport City went missing-"

"-they weren't sunk like-"

"-not ordained-"

"-back home this wouldn't have-"

"not actually _alph_-"

They all disappeared very quickly, leaving only a few stragglers to mill about the docks or move east into Petalburg City.

"Rem!" Lumine shouted from a few feet away, before running over. "Res and I are gonna go up to Rustboro, we got all our shit fixed in Sinnoh, see you on Route 111!"

Resko snagged her into a hug on the way by, and asked, "Did you have any weird dreams on that boat? Our window was broken, so Lumi and I were hearing and thinking about crashing waves all night."

Remni shrugged and stated that she didn't remember.

He mirrored her action. "Eh, maybe we're restless. See you later!" He booked it towards their elder sibling, who was running off with her flareon, Gracia, hot on her heels.

Their friends regrouped around an imposing dark-leaved tree that offered a ton of cool shade. They ended up having a picnic by the beach, with everyone picking out whatever food they brought and sharing it on the thin spat of grass before the sandy part of the beach began. They let their pokémon out to wander and get used to the new area, and stretch out after being inside their pokéballs for over two days.

About twenty metres away at the very edge of the ocean, only partly on the sand a sparking lanturn and snarling swampert were launching attacks at their teams. Three other enraged gyarados had surfaced on either side, further out, and had cornered several of the other pokémon. Most of their birds had vanished into the sky, leaving the wild sniping masquerain nearly untouched, and it rained down on them with air slash, bug buzz and psybeam. As well as the water-types, who had swum off to cool down, Alexei's weavile and Risa's mismagius were absent, sleeping soundly in their pokéballs away from the stark sunlight.

They began to sprint over after the first glance and tossing their stuff onto the grass, all four trainers returned each of the pokémon that had a particular weakness, leaving Remni backing her claydol, luxray and stantler, Alexei following his zigzagging luxray and roserade, Eti behind her kricketune, alakazam, lucario and magnezone and Risa (without any of her pokémon still out) stuck with Eti.

"Let's dance!" Risa called, and Eti elbowed her sharply before meeting up with the remains of her team.

While solitary pokémon like alakazam and gyarados had trouble coordinating with other pokémon while trainerless, it didn't take very long to re-group. Cineraria shocked the masquerain straight out of the sky and it only took a few more minutes for the others to take down the rest, mostly sticking with their team and attacking at the same time to knock them out if not back into the sea.

"Remni!" someone shouted as another masquerain flashed into view, noticeably larger than the previous one and angrier. She started and jerked around to see a Psybeam exploding against the sand behind her, then stumbled forward into the water to avoid the second and third beams. A pile of rocks flew through the air and smacked the bug-flying away, just as a stunning Air Cutter curved towards the trainer. She ducked, reflexively, and ended up soaked to the stomach, but the sniper was finally gone. She began to get to her feet when something dark and shiny caught her eye. She stilled, distracted, and stared down at it, sinking to her knees.

Jackal looked over and began to splash towards her, sinking his fangs into the collar of her shirt to drag her upright, but her fingers had already closed around the small object.

She clutched at it before struggling out of the water and towards her worried friends, fingers shaking a little as they tried to dry her off. Luckily, two of the others brought towels. The sun was still high and warm and noon was still a recent memory, so the decision to keep moving was uncontested.

Their flying- and water-types came back slightly upset but mostly exhilarated, returning with little complaint.

"Hey!" Someone yelled.

Remni looked up to see a group of three trainers standing on the jetty. The ferry was long gone, but this group had stayed for some reason.

"Hey?" Alexei called back. Risa moved to stand beside him, and crossed her arms.

"Are you guys alright?" The original trainer yelled back. "That was crazy weird!"

"We're good, uh…thanks?" Alexei replied. The group seemed to nod to themselves, and went back to talking amongst themselves.

"Well, alright then," Alexei said.

Eti looked around them at the stack of pokémon. Four full teams meant there were just under twenty-four pokémon surrounding them. "This is gonna get confusing if we have too many pokémon out at once, again," Eti stated as they began to pack up their stuff.

"What'd we do last time?" Alexei asked, casually scrolling through the computerised list projected from his bag, slowly dematerializing a bowl and a fork and checking to see if the names appeared back on the list.

"In Solaceon, or the Resort Area?" Risa asked, lounging on the grass and stroking Denno the crobat, who had perched on her shoulder.

"Solaceon," Remni answered at the same time as Eti said,

"Resort Area, I think."

They stared at each other for several seconds while Risa cackled.

"Helpful, guys." Alexei grumbled as he got to his feet.

"One pokémon out at a time." Eti said, firmly.

"I'm keen."

"Sure."

"Sounds good."

"Hey," Remni said. "What do you think this is?" and held up the strange, curving shard. It had a dark opalescence to it, and reflected light in jagged rainbow waves. She turned it this way and that to show off a 360-degree view.

"Looks like broken glass," Alexei shrugged, barely looking.

Eti peered far more closely, "Maybe a dusk stone? Could be a broken piece?"

"I'd agree with that," Risa added, glancing over briefly. Remni ran her thumb up the curved edge once more, then tucked it away, "Yeah, probably."

They followed the sandy path across the beach and up to the beginning of the sparse forest, Remni hesitating at the edge of it and Jackal crashed into the backs of her legs. The small forest served more as a windbreak between the open coastline and the short path to Petalburg and would only take a few hours to travel through, but the trees were tall and several vines waved quietly in the wind. She looked forward, and eyed vague moving figures in the distance. Her twin's maybe-warning flashed through her mind, and she took a step back. The luxray whined and looked up at his trainer, circling around to see her face, but Alexei just tapped her on the shoulder and grinned, and took up the lead with Lilium. Eti sidled up next to her with her kricketune singing at her side and Risa and Denno followed a few paces behind. The path was mostly short grass or dirt on both sides, and it quickly became long grass, thick shrubs and finally, tall imposing tress. The greenery quickly obscured them, but only the north and south sides. The outskirts of Rustboro City were obvious beyond the lightly-grassed hills.

A soft chiming rung out, and Eti grabbed her phone out of her pants pocket. Snapping it open and nudging Cecil away with her knee, she pressed it to her ear "Hello? Professor Birch? Yes, this is Etienne Harrot, but I'd appreciate it if you called me Eti. Thanks. Yes! We just arrived."

Alexei turned back questioningly, but she waved them on to continue.

As they moved further along the path, furry, four-legged silhouettes began to appear in the distance, already deep in thick grass. They would run a few paces, then turn glowing red-and-yellow eyes back to the travelling group, and occasionally faded into shadow as clouds passed overhead.

It took them only three and a half hours to each the outskirts of town, but only two minutes for Eti to finish her call.

"The professor says we can get everything sorted in Rustboro City," Eti announced, pointing at the city past the trees, "We don't need to go all the way to Littleroot Town to see him." The idea of cutting down on unnecessary travel seemed to make the others happy, as they ended up picking up the pace.

Rustboro City was enormous, but long and narrow somehow. The buildings were tall, wide and sturdy, and stood in long rows. The forefront of the city brushed against the wide forest between it and the beach, while the industrial and business buildings at the very end of the city had cut in the limestone mountains. It spanned several ecosystems, but still kept a consistent temperature. Which is to say- heat. A thick blanket of stifling air hovered from the light brown brick edging out from the forest, through the busy streets of roughly hewn brickwork to the lightly coloured limestone pavers that sloped up rapidly into the nearby, natural mountains.

They took a handful of days to acclimatise, switching between napping in the hotels and trudging through the humid plain-like areas and small coastal forests. Jackal sniffed out a rotting wailmer carcass in a crop of mangrove trees, and she had to forcibly hold him back as Asio rolled the mess of blubber and torn skin back into the waves. He whined and scrabbled at the dirt, and was certainly strong enough to pull out of her grip. But he didn't.

Despite the fact that the letter they'd all received had no locations marked on it, some of the more cunning trainers had puzzled it out based on Hoenn's complex underground train system. A few of the old online forums, initially created for regional map-making purposes, had been usurped by trainers and cannibalised into discussion threads and tips and tricks. An entirely new one dedicated to Hoenn's problem had cropped up when the news reports went viral, then it spun out of control once the letters started reaching their recipients.

Remni flicked through the recent posts on her pokétch. It was only a few days until the meeting, and apparently on the day "every single goddamn train. EVERY SINGLE ONE! Stops at Route 111. How fucking dumb do they think we are?" She'd twisted her wrist around to show Alexei the comment, and he'd cackled until he'd fallen onto the hotel floor.

"Well," Eti said when she'd walked into the room to see Alexei gasping on the floor, and Remni on the bed with both hands over her mouth. "Good news, there are many trains departing from Rustboro City over the next few days. Would you two like to accompany me down to the station to have a look at the times?"

"We can't look them up?" Alexei asked, groaning.

Eti rolled her eyes. "Of course we can. But you two need a walk and I want to pick Risa up from wherever she's gotten lost to."

"Fine," he whined.

They were a few minutes east of Rustboro, and needed to backtrack. The clay-coloured cobblestone of Rustboro City that reflected most of the heat was a welcome relief. Buildings rose high and rectangular all around them, boxing them in and creating cool, shadowed alcoves at their bases. The friends, like most of the city's inhabitants, moved between cool spots as they walked towards east entrance to the underground train station. It was nestled beside a large hotel building and a small garden.

"Three hours?!" Risa and Alexei groaned simultaneously, and Eti shot Remni a Look. It was the middle of the afternoon and the heat had peaked. As such, the station was pretty empty, with only a few trainers here and there talking quietly or flicking though takeaway timetables. Two old couples sat on a wooden bench on the opposite side of the tracks, having come down the west entrance, two of them holding hands. Pile of suitcases leaned against each other in a line at their feet, each a different shade of orange. The sign hanging from the ceiling above them was lit up with light green letters that proclaimed: **Slateport City (F) | 16 Minutes**.

Remni smiled at the chattering group when one looked over, and the woman waved back, her pink shawl fluttering from the movement.

"That's perfect, then," Eti started to say as Alexei and Risa slowed their grumbling. "Because, as you three have forgotten, I still need to visit the Devon Corporation and get our Pokétch's adjusted." She glanced at her own pokétch as if to emphasize, then looked pointedly at the other three. Startled, they quickly began messing with the devices clipped around their wrists. Risa was the first to unclasp hers. She shot a smug smile at Alexei as she handed it over to Eti. The male trainer gave his over a few moments later, and Remni was last, smiling but slightly red-faced as she slipped it into the brunette's cupped, over-full hands.

"Alright," Eti said softly, but the station was so quiet and empty they could've heard her from another few metres away. "I'm going to go there now, I think. Would you like me to meet you all back here?" she asked.

"I reckon we should go get something to eat," Alexei answered, and rubbed his stomach.

"Gods, yes, definitely," Risa groaned.

Remni smiled at both of them. "Sounds great," she answered.

"Hmm… De knows you, I'll get him to lead me when I get out," she murmured thoughtfully. "Is that everything, then?"

"You sure you wanna go alone?" Remni asked her, hands coming to her front so she could interlace her own fingers together.

"I'm only going to be a few moments away, and I do know this best," she said, the tiniest smug edge surfacing in her words, "No offense, ah, I just mean I've had the most contact with Professor Birch and the Devon researcher that he contacted. I'm sure you three will find it boring."

The other three shared a look and a nod, and Risa shrugged roughly, tossing her short crop of white hair.

The brunette walked forward then, sweeping each trainer up individually into a hug, before she moved off, slipping each of the three pokétches into her pants pockets, and re-surfacing with a pokéball. Deadshot the lucario appeared in a flash of red that was blinding in the dark underground. She looked around quickly, then followed her trainer, walking at the same pace at her side.

"I can't _believe_ her pokémon are so calm." Alexei fumed a little. Remni looked at him sharply,

"Alexei! They've always been like that!" she exclaimed.

"Yeah, _Lex,_" Risa continued, turning to face him, "What's your deal?" she said.

His hands jerked out, palm up, and he shot back, "No- I don't have a deal! It's just not fair! We've all been trainers for the same amount of time!"

"Eti has a very calm personality." Remni began, not meeting Alexei's eyes as he swung to face her, "It's natural that she'd attract even-tempered pokémon."

Risa snorted, "We already went a few rounds, I'm sure your team will calm down after a few more, especially if you try it too."

They ate quietly, but the calm atmosphere that usually surrounded the group descended. Rise suggested battling again, just to work off the excess energy.

At one point, Tanner the togekiss fell from the sky, dizzy with heat exhaustion. As Remni busied herself with Tanner's unhappy cacophony at being returned so soon, Alexei and Risa shared an approving nod over the 'distract Remni' plan. The constant battling had effectively halted her furtive glances towards the sea.

The last battlers, Carrow and Risa's rhyperior, took the longest to finish. Both had thick skin that was resistant to the heat, and due to Carrow's unyielding stubbornness they were stalled for almost half an hour.

Luckily for the two female trainers it wasn't due to any frustrating underlying issues or bad feelings- the two just wanted to battle for longer.

When the claydol called up Grass Knots to grab at the rhyperior and throw her to the floor he did with relish. They rose in graceful arcs but as soon as Tar neared them they became looser and fell apart as the rock-type stumbled through. The sharp-edged Rock Slides that sliced through the air towards Carrow bounced off of a thin pink Protect or missed by miles. Alexei was on his back with laughter by the end of it, and Remni was bright red as she tried to mentally persuade Carrow to stop. Risa had yet to remove either hand from where they both covered her face, continuing to yell muffled commands through them.

They gave up when Carrow's next Earthquake didn't even cause a _ripple_in the grass and Tar's Horn Drill went the other way entirely. They moved on.

Eventually, they called it quits and made their way back to a string of restaurants with both indoor and outdoor seating- the ones more popular in the busy city centre. Asio the stantler had started to walk off towards the beach, and Remni shrugged helplessly and ran after her. By the time Eti returned, she was long gone.

Hey," she greeted as she approached. "Where'd Remni go?" she asked and stopped in front of them. She kicked at the grass to hear it rustle.

Resko sighed. "Beach. She went back right after Risa fell asleep. Told us to send Tanner when we were ready to go." He accepted the pokétch that she handed over, and twisted it around to check the time. "Train's got another forty minutes, we all figured we should just wait around here awhile until it arrives. Sun's warm and it's really cold in those tunnels! Plus, the train hangs around for about fifteen minutes to wait for everyone to settle in anyway." He shivered for emphasis as Eti sat down, and leant back when the now-awake Risa shifted off of his shoulder to take her pokétch back. The three went rifling through the devices for a few minutes, then Risa pulled a pamphlet out of her jacket and handed it to Eti. The brunette glanced down to read it. It was a detailed block of information about Hoenn's underground network.

* * *

I reached out and touched her shoulder, and she shivered before she began reading to herself. Her words flowed through her mind into mine.

* * *

_The train line that Hoenn installed had three different trains riding the rails, and each had a different 'Standing' time depending on their type. The first was a 'Jet-Type', or 'J-trains. These were the fastest, had many rows of small seats with seatbelts, and were designed to move very quickly between destinations. Only a carry-on back that fit within very specific measurements was allowed on board. No pokémon were allowed to be out of their pokéballs either, unless they were service types. J trains were used primarily by business people and trainers that were rushing to reach a contest or other event before it closed, and had a standing time of thirty seconds to three minutes. The second type were 'Standard-Type' or S-trains. These were the 'average' trains. They have a limited top speed whereas J trains do not. This is due to the hand rails and steps that allowed people to stand during rides. The chairs were more comfortable and lacked seatbelts, and there were storage spaces overhead for larger backpacks and other bags. Sometimes tier one and tier two pokémon were allowed out during trips. The most common passengers on these trains were trainers moving between towns or normal people travelling to another city for a shopping day trip. S trains had a standing time of anywhere between three minutes and eight minutes. The final train type was 'Cruise-type' C-trains. These had a top speed of about an eighth of the J-trains, but were used for luxury-type trips. The seats were wide and luxurious, with a single carriage either filled with single seats like a plane, or separated booths, never a mixed group. These were primarily used by older people who wanted to take a relaxing trip from town to town, but also wanted to relax and rest in comfort. These trains had the longest stand time of all, at about twenty-five to thirty minutes._

Eti stood up slowly after shooting several different messages to her family, then stretched her arms high over her head. "I think I'll go grab Remni, and we can both meet you on the platform," she suggested, smiling softly at them.

The other two trainers nodded up at her.

"Tanner, can you show me to her?" the brunette asked. The togekiss waddled off of Risa's side onto the bench, then took off into the air. She trilled as she flew in lazy loops about a metre above Eti's head, and slowly headed towards the beach.

After a few minutes, Tanner cried out over head, shrill but not unhappy, and dived for a figure on the shore. As Eti slowed down to walk the final hundred metres, so did her lucario.

Remni stood barefoot at the edge of the water. Something glinted between her fingers, and as the other trainer got closer, she could see her friend turning the strange dark shard from yesterday over and over.

Tanner, despite his wide size and huge fluffy wings, had awkwardly fitted himself onto her shoulder, probably using the same years of familiarity that had De matching pace with her. The togekiss turned to look back with her trainer only a beat behind.

Remni's face broke out into a smile as Eti approached, and she flung out her arms to catch the other girl up into a hug. Around the muffling of Remni's hair and arms she heard the unmistakeable cheep of the togekiss, and her lucario's answering rumble.

"What were you doing out here?" Eti asked quietly after withdrawing from Remni's embrace. The other trainer rubbed a thumb over her treasure before tucking it back into a pocket on her sturdy jacket.

"Just looking around. I thought if there was one dusk stone piece here, there might be more..." she answered, grinning. "And the edges are still quite sharp! Like they've only been in the water for a little while. I was thinking about piecing it back together if we found any other shards," she continued, and pointed out across the water. Almost a hundred metres out a fin could be seen sticking out of the water- with a large oval-shaped shadow below it. The fin pointed directly at the gesturing trainer, and was thrashing through the water. Remni bit her lip while she watched, but the splashing decreased with every dozen metres he went.

"I'm beginning to think we should have a morning run each day to wear off this extra energy," the blue-haired trainer joked as she turned back to her friend.

Eti laughed then asked, "Oh, wow, he's willing to go out that far?" The brunette finally spotted Nikko's fin. Even Wisteria, Nikko and Denno, despite being some of the most distant members of each team, had staunchly refused to leave their trainer's sight, let alone their personal space. Nikko's wake was smooth and eased into the surrounding ocean with only a few low waves by now- he wasn't even rushing to return. With a whisper, Remni sent Tanner out over the ocean. The large bird's snowy white feathers seem to glow under the afternoon sun, gliding a dozen metres above the water.

"Yeah," Remni answered while tracking her two pokémon's movements. "I couldn't fully understand it, but he seems to believe that the ocean is the same wherever he is. This beach isn't unfamiliar territory, even if he's never been. I don't really…_get_ it, but he seems happy. Carrow didn't have an issue with it either," the blue-haired girl explained.

By now, Tanner had neared her teammate and begun descending towards the water. Closing in on the sharpedo, she snapped her wings out and forward, bringing her body to a sudden halt, then beat them harshly. The sharp, sudden gust of wind smacked into the top of Nikko's back, then rolled over his dorsal fin as it dissipated. He lifted his head up to pin her with sharp red-and-yellow eyes. The two had a subtle exchange that Remni couldn't quite catch. The togekiss U-turned back to her, her pokéball opening for her within the bag, as Nikko ducked back beneath the waves. With Tanner's message, he immediately picked up speed and was in the shallows in seconds.

Remni dug his pokéball out of the pocket of her pants as he nudged into the hand span depths of the _very_ shallow shallows. His (lower fin) dug into the sand below. Remni returned him, and turned back to Eti again to ask, "So! You thinking about taking up the gym circuit while we're here? I know Risa and Alexei want to," she asked. She tucked his pokéball into her pocket.

"If you three are; I will. I've never been interested in the contests, and I think we will need to do more than just train to keep our pokémon and ourselves fit."

"True, true. I was thinking we should map out a route through the region as well. I reckon most trainers will want to start out from the meeting places so it will be super crowded," Remni said. "I'd like to start at one end of the region then go from there, but anywhere's fine. Any ideas?"

Eti hummed. "Not sure, I wouldn't mind…" She tipped her head back to think, her eyes glazing slightly. Remni imagined the brunette was trying to picture the map. "…Fallarbour Town, maybe? It's quite small, but we could explore the mountains for a bit. I think the dragon-type pokémon in this region are used to environments like that as well- it could be a good place to start with the ones we receive."

Remni smiled, "Oh man, it's been so long since I've had to train a new pokémon! Bet you it takes a while to get back into it!"

"No bet!" Eti said quickly, then chuckled. "It'll be an experience for sure. Hey, I did hear Alexei talking about Lilycove City, but I'm not sure why. We should probably talk to the others first. And speaking of-"

"Time to go?" Remni asked, cutting her off.

"Time to go," the brunette confirmed, and turned to follow her footprints back up the beach. Remni trailed after her, occasionally bogging down in the sand. As she caught up, she knocked their shoulders together.

"By the way, how was Devon?" she asked.

"Cool, literally," Eti replied. De nodded from beside her. "Apparently all the people in Hoenn, or maybe just Rustboro, run at high temperatures. They've got the air con on full blast." Eti stretched, working off the odd feeling of heated air pressed against her cooled skin. "Everything worked out pretty well. Compatibility rates between Sinnoh tech and Hoenn tech is pretty high, so it only took a few hours. I was allowed to explore the building while they looked at our watches,"

She briefly summarised the polite but strange visit with Silph as they neared the marked forest path, the grassed 'plains' that preluded the forest between the beach and Rustboro City were fast cut in front of her as they passed from white sand into amber, leading the way into the dark brown dirt of the forest.

The late afternoon breeze had begun to pick up as they walked and talked, and it rustled the low-hanging branches and leaves.

Remni shivered as the slender leaves brushed her elbow.

Asio, who had been released halfway up the beach for a quick walk before the cramped train, flicked her ears. Her eyes glowed a light pink, and a thin wave of psychic energy poured down the path they were following.

Ahead of them the dragging branches bent back towards their trunks. With the sudden movement the path seemed a lot wider than before, even wider than it had when Eti first walked through. They slowed their pace. The clouds that had hung far out to sea had swarmed the shore while they picked their way through the trees and now were directly overhead. The air began to cool as the shadows around them got darker and larger.

De paused where he stood, only a step away, and his stance widened.

Asio's lips peeled back and she lowered her head.

"What the- Does the weather really change in Hoenn just like that?" Remni asked in surprise. The stifling air around them had begun to move around them in slow swirls.

"We were warned, but I didn't expect it to be so sudden…" Eti answered, then jerked off of the path. That part was open to the sky through a gap in the trees. Water dripped down her forearm and she hastily wiped it off. Both trainers shared a startled look and jerked back towards the stantler.

Asio was huge, as a pokémon both from a breeder and who had been trained. As such, there was a lot of her to press against. Both trainers stood to either side of her, one arm across her broad back to touch each other's shoulders, feeding from her warmth. They kept walking. After only a dozen more steps something fell from the pinned trees ahead, and Remni heard growling behind them. She spun around to stare, where Asio's psychic abilities had eased and the leaves had gone slack. In the deep shadows that the clouds had brought, the trunks looked dark as pitch. The path was indistinguishable from the forest on every other side of them. Numerous pairs of bright red and yellow eyes glowed back at them- many at knee height, and half a dozen other ones hovering at about the same level as Asio's knees.

In front of them, Eti started to walk back towards Deadshot. The lucario snarled and kicked a hissing nuzleaf off of the path. The sunlight continued to rapidly disappear.

"So," Remni asked into the silence that followed. "Did the sun just set at 5pm or-"

Thunder cracked overhead, interrupting Remni, and frightening both trainers. Rain began to trickle down the branches to splash against the forest floor, muddying the area. They ran forward, Eti side-by-side with De, Remni behind her with Asio galloping along behind her. The path wasn't wide enough for those to be next to each other. They slowed when more pokémon began to appear on the path ahead, and De growled before leaping forward to attack on Eti's order. Here, at least, the ground was dry and stable. But the rain continued to fall, and thundered against the canopy above them.

It was hard to hear Remni's thoughts over the fear, panic and the water that repulsed me, but I could almost hear roaring in the distance.

Remni fumbled with her jacket pocket and out came Jackal, shaking his head and snarling, then Detonate (or just Nate), Eti's magnezone. The luxray took one look behind them where the glowing eyes had followed, then bounded straight into the woods. Nate's body glowed lightly, and the two trainers covered their eyes as a burst of brilliant light rolled outwards and into the trees. The Flash attack lit up the area for several minutes, but even after it faded a soft glow emanating from the magnezone remained. At his current skill level, the lasting projection could extend across an area of almost four metres squared for at least half an hour before it had to be renewed.

Another two nuzleaf ran out onto the path, the first engaging De immediately with a flurried Razor Leaf. Eti, sticking to her magnezone's shadow, walked forward and called out a dodge and a follow-up Power Up Punch. The nuzleaf, sporting several bruises and a scowling visage was thrown back at the assault. It quickly blended back into the trees. Even above the increasing pressure of the rain, they heard it stumbling and scurrying away. De took two steps forward, and was hit by a sharp beak at the end of a silver streak. The quick attack took the flying-type back around towards the darkness in front of them, to stand against the lucario, who was now facing down three swellow. He growled loudly in warning, but backed up towards his trainer. Nate shocked them from the sky as they darted closer.

Remni, whose eyes were trained on the path behind them, jerked as she saw Jackal roll to the illuminated floor beneath the weight of half a dozen growling, barking poochyena. He snarled in warning moments before electricity coursed through his fur. The Discharge threw each dark-type away, and all went skittering into the underbrush, yipping. A particularly furry mightyena with thin fur and scars down one side approached him head on, with two others at 45 degrees left and right respectively of the larger one. These two were moving much faster.

"Discharge! Hit the middle one!" Remni called, moving towards him with Asio closely behind her. The luxray fired off his attack and the middle one crumpled to the floor. "Now, Night Slash on the other two!"

Dark black and brown energy began to sizzle at his claws, and as he leapt forward it enveloped him. He disappeared. A black rift appeared beside both mightyena, between them and the forest, and Jackal appeared through both in turn. He slashed right down both wild pokémon's sides, silent as he did. They both were thrown towards each other as the hits landed. The scarred one had regained its footing, and shoved them apart as it walked between, its head now lowered and hackles sharp and tall along its spine. Tiny black particles began to form around its bared teeth, and it sprinted towards the luxray, narrowly dodging the Discharge that had been flung at it. The electric attack struck one of the other mightyena head-on. This time it stuck- that pokémon did not get back up. The scarred mightyena was closing in rapidly, and Jackal had yet to charge another attack.

The luxray pulled back his lips, revealing bared teeth bathed in red flames as its opponent approached, and quickly backed off as it leapt. The mightyena landed with a growl, but before it could regain its footing,

Remni shouted, "Hit it, now!"

Jackal roared and rushed the dark-type teeth-first. His flame coated jaws bit into the meat of his opponent's shoulder, and he roughly shoved at it with his chest. It snapped its head around to Bite him, but was untrained and slow. Its teeth met Jackal's as he yanked his own free- now both dripping red as well as burning with the colour, and snapped back. Eventually, it was forced to give up and back off. Jackal fired a final warning Discharge at the other mightyena, who had approached in a slow, wide semi-circle after its partner was knocked out. It yipped and ran, following the scarred one in running back through the trees. Jackal licked his lips proudly and walked back to his trainer, letting her massage her fingers through his thick mane. Behind her, Asio scythed her antlers rapidly back and forth, shaking lose another mightyena that had latched onto the thick bony protrusions. The dark-type was under-levelled as well as feral, and looked tiny compared to the huge cervid. She shook it free with another jerk, and spat an Energy Ball directly in its face. The dark-type howled as it fled, and Asio turned back towards her teammates.

Ahead of them, De and Nate had mostly cleared the path, and Remni and her two pokémon ran to catch up. She slowed down a few metres away, and Eti grinned at her. Nate sent a Zap Cannon into the face of a snarling zigzagoon and it rolled backwards. The other attacking pokémon had slowed down, and Remni felt warmth touch her arm. She jerked around to look back. The water dripping from the trees had vanished, and patches of sun had begun to grow on the forest floor. One such had shone on her elbow. As the light began to stream through the leaves, they all could see through the patchy leaves where the clouds had begun to retreat back over the ocean, or dissipate entirely.

As the light shone down and the temperature began to rise again, the aggressive wild pokémon slowed and finally stopped their assault. They looked around, heads lowered in a reaction the two trainers would label shame in any other situation but this. Most begun returning to the forest, but a few particularly brave ones approached. A wingull slowly flapped over to Nate, who withdrew slowly and begun to charge another electric attack. He stopped when Eti commanded him to stand down. The two shared an exchange, curious on the wingull's side and reluctant on the magnezone's. A linoone reared up to sniff at De, and she humoured it. The pokémon acted as if the earlier fights had not even happened, and were calm- friendly even.

The truth was that the forest between Rustboro City and the nearby coastline was very long, and separated the two areas for many kilometres both up and down its length. However, it wasn't very deep, and had many worn paths crossing through it. The pokémon there, while wild, were used to the presence of people, including trainers and their pokémon. While confused by the strange floating ball of metal and the snarling electric wildcat, they were more interested in satiating their curiosity than running.

Jackal was learning this the hard way. After being ordered down by Remni, he was forced to hold still as several mightyena circled around and prodded him with their wet noses. They were only a half to a quarter of his size, and were so playfully young his ears went back as they continued to circle him. Even the scarred mightyena had returned, and was peering at them from around the tree trunks. Curiosity only went so far though, and the tiny poochyena pups tumbling over his claws were firmly kept off of the path. When a slender, green eyed mightyena squirmed underneath Jackal and rolled over, barking happily and wagging his tail. The luxray looked over at Remni and let out a whine. Laughing, she called him over, and he started the slow process of extracting his limbs from the weirdly-pleasant canines.

Eti shot the luxray and his trainer a bewildered look, and Remni's face couldn't drop the small smile it had acquired, but she still muttered a quiet, "What the fuck…" to her friend.

The mightyena fled as she approached her pokémon, then returned him, and Eti trotted over when they all disappeared. De's pokéball, with his inside, had been tucked away in the brunette's pocket, although Nate the magnezone hovered at her side. The rest of the wild pokémon quickly began to vanish into the trees as the interesting foreign pokémon vanished.

"Let's go back to the others," the brunette murmured. "Like, right now."

They nearly ran all the way back to the train station, but slowed at the top of the steps. She struggled to fasten her pokétch back on, read several new messages and walk down the steps at the same time. She fired off several quick messages to her family to let them know that she was fine and everything was in order. Her mother, Alaine, who was better-versed in the behavioural side of pokémon than her father, who had more knowledge in the fields of biology and genetics, received a lengthy breakdown of what had occurred in the forest. Eti had sent a similar copy to Professor Birch. Both had received a hasty reassurance and a promise to read more deeply into it and send a lengthier response at a later date. Eti had apologised for taking up the professor's, "very valuable and important time!" while Remni had reacted by jokingly and affectionately telling her mother off for not being as quick as she used to be. The young trainer received a long series of very angry and violent emojis, followed by half a dozen different coloured hearts. She had laughed and decided to message the older sister actually sharing the continent with her. Both trainers were lucky most of the town was indoors, and the trainers were waiting for trains, as they would've likely bumped into someone while staring down at the small messenger app on the pokétch.

As they got closer to where Alexei and Risa sat, she read over the message she'd sent.

To: Lumine

From: Remni

Re: I hate writing subjects delete this damn featur…

hey! watch is synced up and working, how far out are you? :)

Halfway through, a reply from 'Lumine' had come in, but she was forced to look up and quickly step around a few loiterers before reading it.

To: Remni

From: Lumine

Re: Re: I hate writing subjects delete this damn fea…

Hi. We are about thirty minutes away by train. Would have been there already but Resko is-andvjnasnvernloasdpvon tHE BEST BROTHER EVER HONESTLY I LOVE HIM. Also I'm a grumpy sister who can't ever take a break wah! See you there, Rem! 3

Remni burst out laughing and read the message again. It was just like being home again with her loud family. She traced the words lightly with her fingertips before firing off a final message and turning the watch back off. She didn't expect a response to this one, but that was okay.

To: Luka, Lumine, Resko, Raune

From: Remni

Love you 3 See you soon 3

So she was a little homesick.

Of all the messages that she sent, only one rebounded. Her twin, Raune, the one she was most interested in seemed to have dropped completely off of the radar. His watch could've easily been off, unregistered or he himself just out of range. But…

Three more messages came in, first from her mum, then her dad then Resko. She tried to send it again but it warned of an error almost immediately. She sighed and decided to try again during the meeting.

As they neared, Alexei woke up and both he and Risa listened intently as the two girls relayed their odd story. They all chalked it up to the forest being a highly trafficked area by the time the C-train had arrived, and lined up to get on board.

It ended up taking an extra ten minutes for everyone to board the train and settle in. A particularly spirited breloom had bungled the luggage-loading process by escaping its pokéball in a panic- and its flustered trainer had to chase after it, alternating between calling out soothing reassurances and unhappy apologies towards the rest of the passengers.

The ride itself was silent, smooth and sleek, basically everything the old rickety trams native to Sinnoh weren't. The tunnels that carried Hoenn's developing monorail system were the perfect shape and size and the tracks were shiny new. Occasionally, they'd hear the far-off rumbling of an underground pokémon passing in the distance, and Remni had to read the chimchar-orange safety pamphlet provided over and over again to Alexei, who was adamant that the tunnels were thin as eggshell in some places. Eti had shrugged when they questioned herm, and Risa threw her arms up from the seat next to fetal-positon Alexei- none of them knew where he'd picked up the tunnel-related paranoia.

While the railway system had been advertised as "underground", there were many long stretches of newly-hewn rock and track that was exposed to the sunlight. Often extending from the sides of hills, or slowly rising out of a granite plateau, each section was cornered off by bright orange plastic cones or "Warning!" tape. Bored-looking Hoennites with baggy high-visibility shirts and a napping mightyena, poochyena or electrike at their feet guarded either side of the track. Most of them were huddling under the shade of a temporary housing block that had been set up nearby. Risa pressed her nose to the glass to watch them as the train zoomed by. She pulled away to leave a fogged circular mark, and laughed while scrubbing it off with the cuff of her jacket.

The train trip was lengthy, but the ferry had taken so long that it seemed like nothing in comparison. Only tier 1 and tier 2 weight pokémon were allowed out, which cut out the entirety of the twenty-four pokémon in their group, so there was little entertainment within teams. Most of the international trainers didn't seem to mind, and made the most of the trip by settling in to sleep.

A few hours later, about six or so hours out from the stop, Carrow had begun to struggle through the artificial consciousness his pokéball induced. He had done it a number of times before, when they were first journeying. It became easier with time and practice- especially when his trainer and her friends were heavy sleepers, and the disturbances were as large as a territorial hippowdon stomping down their camp in the night.

Minutes before, what felt like a sonic boom of energy went off in the distance, jarring him half-awake. He scrambled for his consciousness, holding onto the feeling that woke him in the first place. He focussed on the energy that had emanated from a point nearby, he followed it up to the surface.

The shared cabin lit up mint green from Remni's watch, and an old pokéball materialised in front of it. It dropped onto the bedsheets and shook back and forth before cracking open. The burst of white light illuminated the cabin for several moments until it faded, and the claydol was forced to blink his many eyes a few times until they grew accustomed to the darkened room. He was pinned immediately- the cabin was large, yes, built for a number of people to sit or sleep comfortably. For a pokémon that was almost seven feet tall and four to five feet wide there was no room for him. Scrambling psychically for his pokéball, he clicked it open and disappeared back inside. The watch clicked off and back into sleep mode beside him. He fished through the surface thoughts of Remni's then Alexei's mind to collect details about the events that had occurred since his last release.

Inside the pokéball he concentrated. It was much harder to connect with the outside world through the natural muted static that the round device conjured up, but he was used to it. He reached out into the ground around them- casting his mind's eye about like a net. The underground was a vast network of small to medium sized minds- for the most part muted by the thick rock and various minerals surrounding them. In the few hundred metres around them he could not feel a single presence that would account for the shockwave that woke him. None of the nearby pokémon could produce an attack of that calibre, none of the rock was unstable enough to have broken and slammed together, and there were no signs of a recent earthquake.

He debated for a few moments longer, then turned in the general direction of his trainer. Remni had assumed her usual sleeping position- half curled around a pillow, her back against the wall and smothered in as many blankets as she could find. He Psychically peeled back the uppermost blankets, leaving only a thin sheet to cover her, and grabbed and pushed at her shoulders with the same energy. It took a few seconds for her to jerk awake, but when she did she slapped at where the energy was. Her hands passed straight through, but he obligingly let it dissipate as she slowly crawled into consciousness. She blinked a few times, then looked around for the disturbance.

"What the! - " she nearly shouted, then quickly dropped to a whisper, "What's wrong? Did something happen?" she couldn't tell if it was late afternoon or already late night, but there were no other noises from the cabins around them.

He reached out to her mentally and tapped shallowly against her outermost thoughts until she relaxed back on the bed, then slowly fed the words into her mind, _'There was a disturbance. Very similar to a powerful attack. It felt near, but I searched for it when I awoke and found nothing within seven hundred metres of where we are.'_

Remni yawned and began talking out loud, then quickly changed to thinking her words. They'd done it for years, but it was still strange to think through what she would say, then not say it aloud, _'The train is designed to move fast, maybe we left it behind?'_ she asked, then yawned again. She tried to prop herself up against a pillow against the cabin wall, but the urge to sleep dragged at her and the air was deliciously comfortable. Her eyes drooped. _'Are you sure you weren't dreaming?'_

He stayed quiet for a very long moment, and she felt the unwelcome chill of his soured mood begin to encroach on her mind, _'Shit, I'm sorry. Carrow, you know that I... I trust your senses! But are you absolutely sure?'_

He paused, and the presence at the forefront of her mind began to warm until it was close enough to the surrounding air temperature to be indistinguishable. 'I am sure,' he hummed back.

_'Well, like I said; I trust you. Let me know if anything else weird happens,'_ she settled back beneath her blankets, '_Hey. What if…if it comes closer again, you can pin it with a beacon?'_

_'You would like me to attempt to track it?'_ he asked and begun to spin slowly in the air. His eyes closed one by one.

'_No- not…not tracking. Just so we can plan around it if it gets…dangerous. Also…make it different to the others ones we've made. I don't wanna mix up any beacons we make in Hoenn with the ones we've made in Sinnoh or Johto, okay?'_ the blankets around her were warming again, and her mind began to drift. _'Don't need to worry…just be careful…'_

_'Of course, Remni. The ones in Sinnoh…were coded green. The ones in Johto, blue. These ones should be red, I think,'_ he replied. When she nodded, he went probing out into the rock around them again.

_'Thanks for…for telling me. Can…can you remind me in the morning? Just in case?'_ she asked, eyes now fully closed.

_'Of course,'_ he responded instantly, _'Are you really planning to sleep until then?'_ he went on to ask.

_'We're tired, you know! Jet lag…and all that.'_ she yawned again.

_'I believe Alexei is correct,'_ he replied, _'I do not believe 'boat jet lag' to be a real thing.'_

"…Goodnight Carrow."

Within the pokéball he chuckled again, "Goodnight Remni."

* * *

As she drifted off her brain sorted through the events of the last few days. I saw her focus on the beach, where Nikko had swum out deep. A curious, nudging insistence forced against me, and I dissolved my presence like cotton candy in water as Carrow entered his trainer's mind. While she slept, the two of us held and examined her memories, and somehow, by the grace of the gods or otherwise, he did not see me.

* * *

_Author's Notes: Next chapter is the meeting and the 'official' beginning of the adventure! __Let me know what you want to see more of (specific pokémon, pokémon battles, fighting, the mysterious narrator) any of it! The major outline for the chapters has already been written down, but there's tons of smaller detail that I want to put in =]_

_Also: the way items are stored in bags (portable storage systems) has been and will be referred to very casually during the story, so I've decided to put a bit of an explanation here. It's very similar to the games, in that when you open the bag you get multiple screens for multiple 'pockets'. The 'screen' is a hologram projection made by a metal band fixed to the inner rim of the backpack/bag. There is a rectangular metal box that acts as the actual storage within the bag. Yes, it's somewhat convoluted, but I figure with all the years that pokémon trainers have been heading out, especially when most of them start at the tender age of ten, there's going to be a lot of technology designed to assist travelling._

_Team List:_

**Remni**\- **Carrow** (claydol), **Jackal** (luxray), **Nikko** (sharpedo), **Quil** (skarmory), **Asio** (stantler), **Tanner** (togekiss).

**Alexei**\- (staraptor), **Cineraria** (luxray), **Lotus** (golduck), (roserade), (weavile).

**Eti**\- (magnezone), **Ricochet [Ric]** (rampardos), (lucario), (kricketune), (alakazam).

**Risa**\- **Twit** (abomasnow), (rapidash), (mismagius).


	3. Chapter Three

_Author's Notes: I forgot to say thanks to Xorobukkit and Y-ko for the earlier reviews! I appreciate that the effort was put in to actually review, considering you don't see a lot of that nowadays. Cheers!_

* * *

Walking to the meeting spot from where the train docked was a chore- but not because of the distance. As there was such a huge number of trainers there the roads were densely-packed. A section of these paths, which could easily hold a few dozen trainers and give them space and privacy were overloaded with the hundreds that had turned up, and so was Remni's head. As someone who was not short, but not tall either, her head was at shoulder height with many people, and it was quickly becoming harder to breather. Every person that pressed to close, every time she tried to breathe in cool air and got mouthful of salty sweat and every bump to her shoulders made her head a little lighter, her heart beat faster and her breaths come more quickly. Eventually she was straight out panting, and her fingers were shaking. She grabbed at Eti's shoulder to get the other girl to stop, who directed the others to stay put as well, and used her as a stable base to go fishing through her pockets. Out came Asio's pokéball, then the stantler herself. The trainers on either side of them sprang away reflexively, but otherwise didn't react. Asio turned to look at her, the stantler's huge bulk creating enough space to give her a bit of breathing room. The tops of the pokémon's legs were about chest-height to even the taller people surrounding them. She ducked her head until her branched antlers flanked her trainer on both sides. Remni gripped tightly onto them near the base and let the stantler lift her up and throw a leg over her back. Up above everyone else with her pokémon's familiar warm, strong body beneath her, her heart began to return to normal speed. She pressed her hands to her soft shoulder blades and pushed her own shoulders back to open her lungs. The stantler began to walk forward as she took a deep breath in for four seconds. She counted out another seven seconds of holding it then eight more breathing out on Asio's fur. It made her lungs ache by the end of it, but it also made her breaths come far easier. She repeated the same pattern twice more before trying to breathe normally again.

Eti grinned up at her from where the other three stood, and she gave them a thumbs up. Above the huge crowd it was much easier for her to stay calm and look ahead. Some other trainers were also riding on their own pokémon, but the vast majority of these seemed to have picked a flying-type and were gliding through the air above them.

Asio started walking, and turned around to look at her again. The stantler's keen senses let her walk without veering or crashing even without looking, and she rubbed her large check against her trainer's face. She pressed a grateful kiss to the side of the stantler's nose, and Asio huffed a warm, comforting breath that blew some loose strands of hair out of her face.

As they went Remni quickly checked her messages. Raune's had finally gone through but was still unread. Worry began to gnaw at her belly as she clicked into the messages from her older siblings, Lumine and Resko. Both were relatively short and promised to see her soon. Resko said he'd been contacted by League Officials to the northwest to do a sweep of the mountainous region around there while he and Lumine were in the area and he supposed Resko might've as well. They both promised to tell her twin to call her if they saw him.

It only took another half hour to reach where the route met a T-junction. To the right was an entrance into the desert, and the left was where Route 111 continued towards Lavaridge Town and became Route 112. Directly in the middle was a huge set up. A neatly-lined, seventeen-foot-long stage pinned the centre of the packed hexagonal space- with silvery-iron and red painted conical speakers mounted on high, thin pedestals at each vertice. People of all different everything stacked three to a metre square under angular shade cloths and densely packed tables of native food and engorged fruits. Various pokémon, only about forty per cent native, tailed their trainers- keeping anywhere from a zero inch to thirty metre gap, though the latter half consisted entirely of hovering flying-types: some seabirds, a handful of brightly-coloured foreigners and a large cloud of dark, arrow-shaped swellow. Even at this distance, Remni could pick out the light-tipped plumages of the predatory birds originating from Hoenn's extremities and deserts; those with ridiculously high light intensity, as well as the storm-dark breasts of the few surviving south-easterlies, the slightly thicker plumes providing insulation against the common, deep cold fronts.

Groups of younger teenagers huddled around the looming stages and set-ups, backs turned outwards and sides pressed together while they whispered and laughed nervously. A few wandered aimlessly about, most with something big nudging their shoulders, or at the side of someone older. It was so busy that she and her friends almost lost track of each other. After the third time turning to a stranger thinking they were Eti or Alexei, she was forced ask Asio to keep track of them. After their travels, the stantler seemed to have a seventh sense for the rest of their group, and steered Remni back in their direction at every wrong turn. Risa had done the same thing with her mismagius, but Eti and Alexei were fine.

There were a dozen podiums making a boundary on either side of the space- blocking the entrances to the desert and Route 112, and extending down towards the start of Route 111. They looked as if they were set up to herd everyone towards the main podium. Each was the same light iron colour as the main podium, with a bright red strip a metre from the bottom to mark it. Each was attended by a person in uniform.

Remni hopped down off of Asio, now calm enough to walk around at the same level as everyone else. She waved off her friends- Alexei and Eti wandered off towards a few familiar figures and Risa caught her up in a brief hug before leaning on the front of the smaller podium nearby to chat to the official behind it. Remni couldn't see either, having been pushed to the side by the crowd and now standing with the others between two podiums on the east side. It looked like the oldest were adults- with some veterans littered sparsely about and distinctly uninvolved with everything around them. Though she knew from the rules that no one younger than sixteen could be lingering about, some individuals looked very young, though the majority seemed to be older teenagers and (young) adults. A chubby girl with bright violet hair and a slender kirlia at her side had linked arms with a dark-eyed blonde and clipped Remni's shoulder in passing, before snapping back to catch her upper arm a touch too forcefully when she stumbled.

"Whoa there! Sorry about that lovely, didn't leave any bruises, did I?" the blonde girl was grinning, like they were friends joking and playing at being strangers. Remni's smile was small and a little shaky, and she slipped her arm from the pale, muscular grip only to be caught in another overly-bouncy handshake. Carrow's presence lit up like a beacon in the back of her mind, but she shut down on it so fast he couldn't get a word out.

"I'm, uh, I think I'm good, thanks?" Remni replied as the blonde elbowed her companion aside, using their hooked arms to push and pull her out of Remni's personal space.

"No harm done yeah? Sorry about Fiona, she's a little handsy, it's a Hoenn thing, ya know?" her thin smile was echoed by the banette riding shotgun on her bare right shoulder- while it curled its long fingers around the freckled base of her neck. Remni laughed again, a little less forced but still shaky, wondering if all Hoenn natives were this informal with foreigners. "I'm Cassidy, and this is Arrow, my banette."

"So, ya know, how did you go?" Fiona, the violet-haired one, asked and stepped closer. "To um, get here."

Cassidy-the-blonde elbowed her. "What Fi means to ask is the question of the day: how many circuits did ya get through to get called here?" her grin widened. "Can you see everyone lookin' about and checkin' out the competition? Tryna figure out who got where and in how long see. Checkin' the competition. But we, and by 'we' I mean Fi, really just wanna know for curiosity' sake, if you'd be willin' to believe us." Her hands hovered awkwardly at shoulder height, palm up and waving side to side.

"Umm." Remni offered intelligently. "I guess… I mean…people are thinking that?"

"Yeah friend, everyone wants the low-down-" Fiona, the violet-haired girl, began only to be cut off.

"Down-low."

"Hush Cass. Yeah we all gotta know, know?"

"Sure, I mean... I started in Sinnoh because I grew up there- moved through that circuit in about a year and a three-quarters, though I rushed at the end through Candice to get to the League in time for that year's competition. Went to Johto after that and worked my way through there, but that took about three years... Went back to Sinnoh after that." she explained carefully.

"...Huh. See. Heard Sinnoh stepped up its game a few years back, s'cool you got through it first. How'd the Leagues go, if you don't mind me askin'?"

Tense bitterness encircled her throat until she choked it out, "Ah, you know, didn't really get that close to the champion. Had a good go but the further into the elites that you get in both Leagues are…tough." she blinked a few times.

"Yeah? Aint that just the way. Don't worry about it, lovely-" Fiona started, and Remni blushed a little at the affectionate term. "Not everyone can just, umm, be the champion, and getting' that far into the elites is pretty impressive, ya know?"

She gulped, once, but smiled back, "I know, it's just something I've gotta get used to, I s'pose?" Cassidy and Fiona grinned back at her, and the banette waved his tail slowly, looking towards the main stage, just as Asio lipped her shoulder. Remni looked back towards the stantler, but the pokémon was already glancing at the stage. Someone cleared their dry throat over the microphone and out the speakers that surrounded them.

"Hello! It's lovely to see you all here, so I'd very much like to thank you for coming."

They were a bit far off, but what looked like a tall, light-green haired woman with indiscernible eyes had taken to the front and centre of the stage, flanked by several individuals in lab coats.

"I am Dr. Marianne, and I work at the marine research laboratory in Slateport City. If you have any problems, please come visit us there so that we can assist you. Now! Hopefully you all received letters inviting you here, and brought them with you as requested, they will be required in exchange for the pokémon that you will receive. If you read the letter, and I dare say you all would have, you'd know that Hoenn's ecology is currently experiencing a crisis. For some unknown reason, the populations of our adult dragon-type pokémon are dropping rapidly. And although not classified as such, this is including our local gyarados. Strangely, the populations of first and second forms, such as swablu and vibrava are stable, if not in abundance. This means that, still for an unknown reason, the adult pokémon are dying out or migrating away, and the young have not grown and evolved to replace them. As you all know, pokémon feed directly from the energy produced by the earth, and have no need for extra food unless they have performed some kind of exercise, such as training or battling. Through their use of attacks, and the dissipation of the energy into the air, ground and sea, energy is constantly recycled back and forth between body and earth. They have evolved for more years than we can even imagine, to achieve this perfect state, and-"

A white coated man beside her very discreetly nudged Dr. Marianne as she began to increase the pace of her talk, and she shot him a side glare before she cleared her throat, and said "Sorry, my colleague is concerned about time constraints. Anyway, due to the incredible size and strength of powerful pokémon like dragon-types, they are integral to this recycling, and their absence could have cataclysmic effects on the environment. The excess energy has taken and will continue to take the form of: disturbed sea currents, earthquakes and violent storm fronts. Very old or extinct volcanoes have begun to show evidence of reawakening under this influx of untapped energy. Other so-called 'powerhouses', such as aggron, hariyama and wailord have been increasing, but not enough to circumvent this unnatural lack of supply. If we do not take action immediately, these intense conditions will occur more frequently and with greater intensity. We are also hoping that the presence of battling trainers will help renegotiate the energy balance in small doses while the baby dragons grow."

As she spoke, the large projector screen behind her lit up, and short clips of Hoenn from an aerial view begin to play across it. They detailed the single currently-active volcano, the large number of beaches and rocky coastlines and even the Slateport Lab.

"Though unproven as of now, evolution expert Professor Birch believes that the influx of energy could force the evolution of younger pokémon. It would give them power that they aren't capable of handling, possibly overloading other. In all recorded cases, aggression was increased."

A short, unprofessional clip of the Sandgem Lab in Sinnoh, square but impossibly tall, clean and very white begins to play. The surrounding scientific machines are still save for the flashing of green and yellow lights, and Professor Rowan, his assistants and several other scientists are observing the evolution of a grotle standing on a lab table. Right next to it, the son of one of Professor Birch's most prominent assistants stands. Lucas leans against the table, fidgeting with the cloth and metal pins that hold it, but his eyes are proud.

"It is advised that anyone under the age of twenty-one travels in groups of no less than four. Five and above is always preferred. If anything significant occurs, these will change from simple advice to a recommendation, then to an order. If that time comes to pass, and you are not in a group, you will be assigned one or brought to others without a group to make your own. If we set you up with a group, and you think it's best to go off on your own, you will be fined. This is not about pride, this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed and we believe that you are capable of it. If you think that this is too much for you, or you cannot handle working in a group, it is definitely recommended that you return home. Should you stay, it is advised that you do not camp in coastal or otherwise unoccupied areas. There are many hotels, motels and pokémon centres, as well as houses and apartments available for rent, please stay in one of these if you plan to visit outer cities such as Petalburg, Lilycove and Slateport. Travel to islands such as Mossdeep City or Sootopolis City, or even one of the many abandoned ships on the coast should be done in groups, if not professionally on a ship or plane. There are flying-type tamers who are prepared to take people to these places for a fee, and will be investigated and approved by the Pokémon Association."

A still image of a very happy torterra chewing on Lucas' collar faded into a map of Hoenn, one which zooms in simultaneously on both Lilycove and Slateport, presenting a close, bird's eye view of both cities and their harbours on either side of the screen. It then went black.

"But now to business. You all have been registered as Trainers, and will be issued a badge and ribbon case as per the norm for this region. It is up to you whether you use them or not. You will also receive a map with the region's labs marked clearly on it. Though the letter stated that you would catch the young pokémon yourselves, the League representatives within the region have decided it would be best if they were caught previously, and given out. At the end of this talk, if no one has questions, you will be required to line up before one of the six podiums surrounding this area, where a representative will confirm your letter, and provide you with a pokémon picked at random. There are several special trains and buses in the area, though we are aware that many of you have flying types and other modes of transportation. It is required that you form a group, then make your way from this area as soon as you receive your pokémon. The train station that most of you came from is equipped with a four-way intersection. Four different types of train will be departing from there for the next twelve hours- each in a different compass direction. The League has also decided on several factors, all which will be registered with your trainer card on confirmation of the validity of your letter. These are as such: your received pokémon may not, under any circumstances, participate in gym battle. We do not want them learning to battle competitively, as they _will_ be returning to the wild. Authorisation to carry seven pokémon has also been put into effect, but the seventh must be what you receive here. This pokémon must never leave your person or your sight. It cannot be traded, however briefly, and if complications occur, it must be brought to one of the several labs for observation. These pokémon have had no human contact aside from their capture, and it is imperative that your first contact with them should occur in a wild environment. Please refrain from releasing them in any cities or populated areas until you are confident in their ability to behave themselves."

She took a deep breath.

"While I had hoped to convey the gravity of the situation to you, it is not all doom and gloom. I sincerely hope that you enjoy this task, as we greatly appreciate your help."

The scientists on either side began to disperse, leaving the stage and moving two or three to a podium. A general muttering sprung up throughout the crowd, and Dr Marianne leaned in one last time and called out, "GOOD LUCK! AND KEEP SAFE!" over the loud crowd. The projector screen began to scroll upwards, and she walked down to the right of the stage and around to a truck.

"Hey!" Someone snagged her sleeve, and all of a sudden Alexei was right in Remni's space. "Ready to go?"

She grinned back at her friend, "Ready as ever." Asio snorted behind her, but pressed her side close to her trainer's back, "Where're the others?"

He pointed behind him. "Risa's coming up to us now and Eti's just behind her. They both saw some of their old friends and were taking a moment to catch up."

"That's good," she replied. Her brow furrowed slightly, and she asked, "How're you feeling today?"

He just grinned and put two thumbs up.

Risa was on them by then, and had jumped the two and dragged them in for a hug. They all turned to face Fiona and Cassidy, the latter of which had been watching the former chat to a tall, pale stranger in red dreadlocks, "Uh, hey?"

Cassidy caught her eye, "Hey! Nice to see you've found a friend." she smiled politely, "This is my cousin, Wren, Fi was just askin' if he's up to a large group travel, see." She met Alexei's bright blue eyes briefly, then flittered back to Remni's. "That is, if your friends are cool with ours?"

Fiona and Wren finished shoving at each other's shoulders and shared a chaste kiss, then stepped over and into the conversation. By now, Risa and Eti had turned up and were hanging over Remni's shoulders. "Wren's cool, who else ya got?" Fiona asked, directing the question towards Alexei.

"No one," he answered and shrugged.

Wren shrugged and Cassidy and Fiona shook their heads, "Nah, this is all of us! We should probably grab our baby dragons and go somewhere with a few less people, though." They all agreed and lined up in front of the nearest podium.

The League official performing the handouts was polite and very interested. He would quiz individual trainers on totally random aspects of the region, sometimes about previous champions or elites, any gossip they'd picked up about the various gym leaders and even questions about the trainers themselves. On the way up, Remni completely zoned out and Carrow more or less had to prompt her. Hand over the three different kinds of identification that they had demanded, get it back. Unbuckle and hold up your watch for inspection, put it back. Let them scan your trainer card then tuck it away again. The man- she'd missed his name- shook her hand happily and pressed a pokéball the size of a tennis ball into her palm. And it was done! She wasn't even sure what she'd been given.

Remni walked a few feet away from the line with Asio quietly following her. Carrow admonished her quietly on her distracted state, but even that was hard to pay attention to and he eventually gave up. A few minutes later Alexei wandered over and clapped a hand on her shoulder. It was like a pokémon had used Defog on her mind- she suddenly felt bright and aware.

"Pokebuck for your thoughts?" he asked.

She shrugged, "Nothing going on in here," she replied, tapping a finger against her temple. "Just zoning out. What'd you get?"

He peered down at the pokéball still clutched between his hands, "…A bagon? I was still taking in what Dr. Marianne said to be honest, wasn't paying a lot of attention." He dematerialised the new pokéball into his pokétch and Remni did the same.

When they all finished and gathered together they decided to follow Route 111 back a way towards the entrance to the underground train station. It was still very busy and full of people, but a little quieter and gave them room to stand together and speak.

"We were thinkin' about headin' to Fallarbour Town, and makin' our way through the region from there, but we're open to ideas! I'm pretty excited to be travellin' with new people, so I'm all ears!" Cassidy said, emphasizing the last bit by cupping her hands around her ears. Wren chuckled.

"Woo!" Risa called, and turned towards Alexei. "Fuck you, Lex!" she shouted in his face and he shoved at her shoulders. It very quickly degraded in a quick-and-dirty shoving match. Fiona stared at the two while Eti and Remni resolutely ignored them.

"Don't mind them," Eti began to explain politely. "Alexei was adamant about going to Lilycove City, and Risa preferred Fallarbour Town. Rem and I didn't mind so we agreed we'd put it to whoever we decided to travel with, if we found someone willing."

Fiona and Wren laughed, a little nervously, but Cassidy grinned and replied, "Sounds good!"

It took a while to get on a train, but luckily not as long as they thought it might. A significant number of trainers still hung about outside the train despite being told not to, so it wasn't hard to catch a train northwest towards Fallarbour Town.

The train docked in a small garage-like area a few hundred kilometres outside of Fallarbour Town- a little way northeast of Mt. Chimney. Each trainer on board linked their Pokétch's and/or pokédex's directly to the train's computer system to keep an eye on the repairs and the ETA to departure. Everyone was allowed to roam as long as they returned at least fifteen minutes before the train planned to leave again.

The seven trainers wandered closer to the sparse forests at the base of Mt. Chimney. They briefly let their pokémon mingle, so that each would recognise the other as being allowed to be there, then wandered off to do their own training.

Each trainer took a short walk away to meet the new pokémon personally. Remni could feel her heartbeat pick up exponentially, and rested her hand against Quil's warm metal neck and took a few breaths before unearthing the new pokéball again. It was almost glowing in the sun- the red and white halves were bright and untouched from its lack of use, untarnished by any marks. She smoothed the pads of her fingers over it a few times before forcing herself to open the ball.

The pokémon that appeared was a squat orange quadruped- with a rounded head, turtle-like body and stubby legs. It had huge jaws, which cracked open to make a deep cawing noise, like an unhappy bird. Quil immediately dived towards it and stopped just short, landing on the grass to look it over. The ground-type flinched, and hunkered down as the ten-foot-long steel bird eyed it.

Eventually, and with Remni's coaxing, Quil slowly leaned down to stretch out on the grass. She was still very big, but at least like this she could be eye-level with the newcomer. It was almost comical to see her huge steel-coated predator stretch flat on her belly like a small grounded jet plane. The trapinch cautiously approached, one tiny leg in front of the other until it and the skarmory were nose to nose. While they were busy, Remni cracked open her old pokédex and went straight into the new section marked 'Hoenn!'. She'd been over all of the info for each of the three possible baby dragons a dozen or so times up until the 8th, but checked the data on trapinch one more time. It only took a few minutes to refresh her memory and put the device away, and by then it had scanned the trapinch fully, and the pokémon itself had become brave enough to try and chew on one of Quil's feathers. Remni sent her pokémon a Look but the skarmory ignored both of them.

She got closer, and the ground-type stopped immediately. It regarded her with huge, round black eyes for several moments, then sprung at her. It was surprisingly agile, managing to throw its whole body into the air. Quil squawked as she flapped and struggled to her feet, but in being startled she was ungainly and floundered for a few moments. Remni just stepped aside and let her would-be attacker tumble to the ground. He got back up, making a deep, barking kind of growl in his throat and leapt again. This time, she caught him.

He was small but dense, easily measuring up to the four point six kilograms that the pokédex had noted, but was tiny enough that she could fit both hands fingertip to fingertip around his body. He tried to snap at her and she growled at him. Surprisingly, he hunkered down in her hands. She shot Quil a bewildered look, then lifted up the trapinch to look him in the eye.

"My name is Remni," she said seriously. "I've been with pokémon my whole life, and trained seriously for the last nine years. I am here to evolve yo-" she didn't even finish her sentence before he started thrashing. She jerked, but held tight until he stopped.

He was panting now, but still struggled weakly. He tried to arch his short neck and snap at her wrists, but she flattened her forearms against his body and squeezed him somewhat tighter. He was small and she was fit, but after the small struggle and his overall dense body was starting to weigh her arms down.

Remni hesitated before kneeling down and Quil crowed at her from where she now stood a few feet behind her trainer. The skarmory had begun flattening the few ruffled feathers, her beak dragging over them and sounding like a knife being sharpened. As the third _shink_ noise echoed around them Remni visibly cringed as she felt a tiny throb start to grow at the base of her skull.

"Shit Quil…I've never seen a reaction like this- most pokémon are pumped to evolve, or don't mind. They're never…never…" She set him back onto the ground and he hunkered down into the dirt, glowering sullenly up at her. "Never _afraid_," she finished. Quil cooed softly at her and clicked her beak. The trapinch opened his jaws wide and snapped them shut, then slowly shifted his body side-to-side to bury himself. She mentally ran over what else the pokédex had said- about thirteen years old but level eighteen. He'd seen some enough fights to have an extra five years' equivalence in levels, but was timid about fighting? He looked pretty healthy- no visible markings on his carapace that would indicate injury or infection. His teeth were strong and clicked healthily when he closed his jaws. He was well below the average weight, which she supposed could be due to a lack of food in the environment that he grew up in, or undersized/young parents. Because the association had said there were very few fully evolved dragon types, it was likely that his parents were two trapinch, or at the very most one was a low level vibrava.

She sat down in front of him, but immediately leaned back onto her palms before he could fully begin to cower. Mentally she called Carrow and unlocked her watch to let him free himself without straining it or the pokéball's circuits. He appeared within seconds and quickly floated down to her level.

_'What is wrong?_' he inquired mentally, keeping three of his eyes on the now half-submerged trapinch and another five on his trainer.

"I told him about how experienced we are and that I wanted him to evolve, and he started doing that and hasn't stopped," she gestured palm-up towards where he sat a few feet in front of them. "Can you translate what he's saying for me?" she asked.

Carrow's many eyes swivelled back and forth until only the nearest two eyed his trainer, and seven now lay on the ground-type, _'He is afraid of…power? No. Afraid of becoming a flygon. But…not because of a fear of height or of a lack of control. Ask him and I will answer,'_

"What are you afraid of?" she asked the trapinch, eyes on it but they flickered to her psychic-type as the trapinch croaked out an answer.

_'He says the others say not to, that something bad will happen.'_

"Did they say what would happen, trapinch?" Remni asked. "Is it a superstition?" This was directed at Carrow.

The claydol hummed aloud, _'…No. He says it will anger the god.'_

"Which god? Why?" she asked loudly. The ground-type croaked lowly, looked at Carrow and was quiet for a few moments, then growled.

_'He does not know. They would not tell him- he was too young.'_

"So you can't evolve because it's dangerous, but you don't get to know why unless you evolve?" Remni asked rhetorically, but the trapinch hesitated, then growled a confirmation. Carrow didn't need to translate that one.

"Trapinch. Trapinch, okay we're gonna find a better name for you, but for now…Listen- you're with us now. You are a part of this team and we can protect you. Whatever happens you can rely on us now, and in time we will hope to rely on you." she explained.

He considered her for a long moment, then looked to the claydol. The two corresponded for several moments, then he croaked back at Remni.

_'He says the gods are powerful, but he has heard stories of trainers defeating the gods before.'_ Carrow relayed, something sharp beneath his words.

_'…He wants us to prove ourselves?'_ she asked him mentally. She did not receive a verbal answer, just a patch of warmth growing in front of her left temple. She began to stand up slowly, then withdraw two pokéballs from the pokétch and another one from her jacket pocket. She explained what was happening to the trapinch, who submerged himself up to his beady eyes and the shiny round top of his head as she walked a few feet away and released the rest of her team.

Jackal and Asio appeared together and shared a shoulder rub before relaxing. Tanner flew in a graceful arch before landing on the stantler's back. Asio snorted but did not shake her. They waited patiently while Remni pointed out the young would-be dragon.

"We're gonna stage a fight for him," she called to them, "And show him that we are more than good enough!" She winked at the ground-type, whose eyes now glittered in the afternoon sun. "Jackal, Asio, you're up!" The two walked away from them, Asio's movement forcing Tanner to take flight again, blotting out the sun for a few moments with her huge wings, before coming to land in the packed, lightly-grassed dirt beside her trainer.

The luxray was a good six and a half feet tall, but very, very long. It had been a while since she'd measured him, and she marked it down on her to-do list. He was probably around nine and a half feet long, while Asio was squarer in that her length and height were about equal, probably about eight or nine feet both ways. Jackal lowered himself into a slight crouch, and Asio lowered her head. The air around her pointed antlers began to shimmer and warp.

"Watch this," she told the trapinch, who had begun to dig its way free now that the large trained pokémon had moved off. "Hey, what do you think of-,"

"Rar! Armory!" Quil screeched.

'_His name is Victus,_' Carrow translated.

"Did Quil come up with that?" Remni asked, confused.

'_I believe so._'

Remni shrugged and turned back to check with 'Victus'.

He croaked back at her. Carrow didn't translate that one, but Remni liked to think it was affirmation.

"Thunderstorm!" she called to the two pokémon facing off.

Jackal rapidly began to glow, a bright white light enveloped him. The light slowly turned yellow as it moved away from his body, then coalesced just above his shoulder blades. A huge bolt of lightning leapt from that spot straight at Asio, and shot directly towards the gap between her antlers. The huge normal-type threw her head back as it came nearer as if to soften a catch and the electric energy stopped dead and heaped between her antlers as the last of the stray lightning was drawn in. It churned and sparked and swirled into the pink energy that had begun to grow there. She swept her head around in a circle and flicked her antlers back at the luxray, who dodged forward into it, forming a gleaming glass-like Protect just as it hit. The redirected Thunderbolt hit the shield and immediately raced around it in rings, burning the areas brown-black where it travelled. Jackal snarled and tensed until all of his fur stood on end, and launched it back. The two of them continued to catch, build up and send back the vicious Thunderbolt, which began to grow sharper at the end, larger and a bright yellow with each redirection. Remni looked at Victus a few times during this, but his eyes were glued to the 'fight'. He followed the attack back and forth like a growlithe watching a tennis match.

Finally, Asio's antlers lit up neon pink. As Jackal sent the super-fast, super strong thunderbolt back at the stantler, she slashed her antlers forward. They collided with the bolt and threw it straight back at Jackal. This time, the luxray collected all of the electric aura surrounding it, not just the more-potent yellow type, but the fierce white aura as well, and threw it forward into a Discharge. It hit the super bolt directly, and it exploded. Sparks rained down around them, and huge thunderbolts leapt into the sky. All the hair on Remni's arms was standing on end, and even some of her hair had raised of its own accord. The air was filled with static, and it felt like tiny sparks were jumping on her spine. Tanner was nervously picking his feathers and shuffling back and forth on the ground beside her, but to his credit, he did not take flight.

When the fireworks finally died down both uninjured and basically untouched pokémon let out a roar of triumph. Admittedly, it wasn't really a battle- the Thunderstorm technique was just a way from them to build strength over time, to take and redirect attacks and build up the stantler's special attack. She was capable of learning a multitude of beam and other energy moves that a normal stantler's body was often not prepared for, and she needed extensive training to practice and use each one safely.

Remni looked over at Victus. The trapinch was now frozen in the sand, but immediately shook himself and glared into the distance when Carrow whispered, '_He is impressed._'

Remni laughed to herself, congratulated the two and returned them. Next was Tanner and Quil. Both flying-types hovered a dozen feet above the ground, but in a different area to the one that their teammates had pumped full of energy. Their battle was far similar to a normal one. Both went through the four attacks they were most proficient with- either deflecting or redirecting what was thrown at them and reacting immediately. They never landed, never faltered and performed deep dives and sharp turns to pull at their new teammate's ensconced aerial desire.

Remni happily watched his eyes light up as Tanner pulled up from a steep dive at the last minute, or when Quil flew straight up to let a charged Aura Sphere brush inches from the plating on her stomach. The two grappled mid-air, snapping, shoving and clawing at each other, but simultaneously pulled away and flew up before they could fall too far. Tanner had built up a Flamethrower in her beak and Quil was nursing an Air Slash when Remi called them down. They let the half-formed attacks fly, which crashed together with a small explosion. A hundred metres down the sparse grass flattened and small embers rained down. Most blew out before they hit the ground, but Remni stomped out what remained and Carrow psychically snuffed them if they caught.

Remni returned both birds with thanks, then re-released the skarmory right next to her. Quil crooned softly, and she rubbed hard against the side of her neck until the huge steel-type was arching against it. Victus, now fully uncovered, croaked. Without missing a beat, Remni replied, "I'm not gonna make them beat each other into the ground for a display." She ducked her head and side-eyed Carrow. "That's what he asked, right?" and smiled when the claydol laughed. It was rough and gritty like a sandstorm in her head. There was a kind of hot, dense feeling at the edge of her mind, and when she prodded it she realised it had teeth. It was pride- Carrow's pride. She shook the feeling out of her head, but grinned at him anyway.

Victus clambered over the sand towards them, and Quil snapped him up in her beak. The startled ground-type screeched as it was tossed, then went quiet as he landed belly-down on the skarmory's long beak. She was big enough and he was small enough that he could fit on it comfortably. Remni scolded her for frightening him anyway.

"I want to help you evolve," she told him again. "We do have a training regimen, but we know that you're young and will adjust it to you. You've seen our strength, our ability to communicate and if you're willing, the pokémon who will mentor you." She met Quil's eyes, who made a muffled croon. "I can't promise that if you can go back to where you came from, or even if it'll be the same as when you left it, but I can promise that when you're with us- you're part of both a team and a family," she said. He finallu looked at her, then Carrow, who seemed to tilt his head and add something the he didn't share with her, then turned around on Quil's beak to look at her. Finally, he slipped down her nose and Remni caught him.

'_He's with us. He wants to know what…what his elders were afraid of_,' Carrow explained.

"Good," Remni said, and rubbed a hand down his nose. "That's… that's something, at least. Can he fight at all?"

Victus showed off a Bite, Sand Attack and Sand Tomb for her against the surrounding rocks, but was hesitant. He did not break a single one, and he could not conjure up nearly as much sand as some of the newborns that her family's business had bred. They had a 'branch' in Hoenn.

'_He's young,_' she reminded herself mentally even as hopelessness began to creep down her spine. In front of them Quil demonstrated a toned down Sand Attack. Unfortunately, at her level it was still almost a sandstorm as it conjured up a huge wave that swept across the ground and buried half the grass. Victus furiously nodded his head and tried again- this time raising a pillar of sand about five inches in diameter and height. It flew forward about a foot before crashing down, but he turned to Quil with wide eyes anyway, '_He's…oh, gods, he's young and inexperienced and untrained. He's not bred from battlers, he's not been bred for moves…You cannot compare a young wild pokémon to a lineaged newborn…_' she said over and over until the hopelessness dulled. Even within the half hour that Quil had with him, his Sand Attack was gaining inches as the time passed.

The panic receded, and she opened up her watch. The digital application that the conductor had directed them to install was a little awkward to use and had just as frustrating a layout as Hoenn's shitty transport website, but the ETA was bright, front and centre and all she wanted anyway. It had gained an hour or so, and now ran right into night time.

"Alright," she said with a sigh, and Quil looked over from where he supervised a seven-inch wide, six-inch tall sand attack. Some of Carrow's heavy-lidded eyes opened. "That's it for the day, it's dinner time," she said, smiling. Quil threw back her head and screeched sharply- a sound not unlike someone tearing open a can of soft drink, complete with the hissing. Remni smiled even as she winced.

Remni released all of her pokémon once Quil had picked up Victus, and sorted through the electronic list on her bag to find the food bowls and back of pokéfood. She had a number of rubber bowls that folded down flat for easy storage, each a different size depending on who was eating. For example, ten-foot-tall Quil had a bowl that was long, but narrow. Her beak wasn't wide enough to need anything bigger, and she liked the challenge of pulling them out. In contrast, Jackal had a wide shallow bowl as he hated eating from something that encroached on his whiskers. Each had their bowl half-filled with the bland, artificial pokéfood bits. She had to dig out something of a trench, using Asio's help to psychically lift some of the dirt, to let Nikko rest somewhere. His natural automatic hydrokinesis was triggered immediately on contact with the air and soil, and the trench was filled to the brim in minutes. His food was hand fed to him by Remni, who could hear her younger siblings and parents calling him spoilt in the back of her head. She took a picture with the pokétch and sent it to each of her family contacts just for fun.

Tanner, who always finished quickest, was sent immediately into the wide, sparse forest, and returned a few minutes later with a beak full of dead zigzagoon. Victus eyed them as they were dropped into Nikko's pond, and the sharpedo snapped each up before they could hit the bottom. Remni left him there for a while and began to change clothes while talking to the trapinch.

"Each night, as a bonding and training exercise, each member of the team gets about half a portion of food, and is allowed to hunt for the rest. If there isn't much food around, they get more," she explained while stripping off her shirt. She and her pokémon were used to each other, and she never felt embarrassed in front of them. She pulled a new set of clothes from the storage system in her bag- a long sleeved shirt and long pants made of strong, breathable fabric in a tight but not uncomfortable size and began to pull them on. She gestured to Asio, who had a full bowl. "Some places don't have much. Each of them can hunt together or separately, but I have to be there while they hunt their prey down, kill and eat it. It's for me to get a better idea of how they would act in the wild, for them to have practice in case they ever become wild again, as well as for all of us to keep fit. " she finished dressing and put everything away and tossed her back pack beside Nikko, and began to walk into the woods. She wasn't one hundred per cent sure that he understood her, but he seemed to be focussed and that was enough. Quil flew at eye level next to her- the skarmory's huge body just off of the ground and with Victus balanced on her beak. Remni kept Victus' pokéball in her new jacket just in case.

In the woods they all split up, and she followed Quil first. Eventually the skarmory found a clearing she approved off, and dropped them on a high tree branch. Remni crouched low on it, and held a hand on Victus' hard shell. They both watched as Quil landed on a branch just a few trees over, and stared down as a group of sleeping marill next to a small, shallow pond. The pond was mostly hidden from view by low branches, and the marill had tucked beneath them. Quil hopped from branch to branch until she was mere feet away, then dove. Her beak straight through a marill, and she snatch another in her claws before beating her wings fast and launching straight up into the air. Remni heard a sharp crunch sound off from between Quil's clutching claws, and blood dripped through them to fall sllopily on the forest floor. She landed several metres above and to the right of her trainer and mentee while the marill awoke with a start. They cried out shrilly, looking about before huddling closer under the sparse leaves. A very large azumarill, easily four or five feet tall, came stalking out from beneath the trees, and sat down at the edge of the group to keep watch.

Remni heard the cracking of bones and the swishing of leaves as bits of the skarmory's prey dropped through the branches. She was forced to slap a hand onto Victus' head and force him down against the branch when he began to shiver and click his teeth, getting too excited over the water-type's loud, distressed calls. "Shush," she whisper-hissed. "She will bring something for you, _wait._"

He reluctantly settled down, only perking up again when Quil glided through the leaves to land on the end of the branch. She offered half a dripping torso, and calmly begun to clean the blood from her claws and beak as he ate. He clicked his jaws together hungrily as the blood dripped over his open maw. His flat, stubby tongue swiped furiously at the drips, but he couldn't reach them. He turned wide wet eyes on his new trainer and made a low snuffling growl.

Remni couldn't help but laughed as he failed to clean his face, and she reached forward to scoop some of the dripping gore into his mouth, "You are _young_," she whispered in amused almost-disbelief. Quil looked on approvingly. Remni rubbed at his back, ignoring his soft growls or growling back when they became too loud while she waited for the both of them to be done.

They found Tanner next, who stealthily walked the length of a branch and gobbled down a mouthful of dark blue berries. Both Remni and Victus, now seated on Quil's back, flew a few metres back to watch as the togekiss sent earthquakes shocking through the ground to chase small zigzagoon and linoone out, and snatch up a few to shred and swallow. The white bird collected another two carcasses and flew up and out of the sparse forest to take them to Nikko.

Jackal and Asio had shared a few unearthed roots, and while the stantler moved on to graze and find some species of fungi, the luxray went downwind. Jackal took to stalking a lone spinda. Eventually he followed it to a group of spinda, all of which attacked him at once. Remni allowed him to call Quil down and took Victus to another tree branch while the skarmory chased off half the group and took turns with Jackal taking out the rest.

Once again, Carrow feasted out of sight and avoided Remni's gaze when he returned. This was particularly difficult to achieve considering the sheer number of eyes that he possessed, but the claydol had practice. She and her team, minus Nikko, were halfway back to where the sharpedo waited when Risa appeared from between two trees and snatched her up in a hug. Carrow had picked her up when she'd come within a hundred metres of them, but he had decided to let her try to sneak up on his trainer.

Denno the crobat immediately flew to Quil, who screeched and blew him back with her wings. Victus huddled against the top of her head, and Remni was forced to snatch him off as his mentor chased the other flying-type through the clearing.

"We've got bad news," Risa said after finally letting go.

At the same time, Remni asked, "How's your baby dragon?"

"Oh," they both said at the same time, and after a few moments of silence Remni gestured for Risa to speak up.

"Well… Looks like something's pretty badly broken. Apparently they were lucky to catch it in time? But it's too dangerous to leave without it being fixed, so the mechanic needs to order a part from a nearby metalwork factory. Luckily it'll only take a few minutes to arrive, but unfortunately it'll be a few days to make," Risa sighed. "Just got wind of it from Alexei, apparently he and the new guys met back up at the train. Eti isn't with them. And," Risa continued. "I got a swablu. it's sweet, but a little timid."

"Wow…I guess that's good for more training here, but the delay is… damn frustrating," Remni scowled. "Weird about your swablu though, Victus-he's the trapinch- is pretty much the same. Shy and frightened."

When they arrived at Nikko's pond they found that it had become a little bloody. He was nosing through the water with interest, but they hadn't dug a particularly deep trench and he was still quite cooped up. When he spotted them he pushed himself halfway up the flat bank to out, grin open-mouthed at them above the water. Remni rubbed along his gills and the notch in his dorsal fin. She then returned him.

"Do you think they'll want us to stay out of the train and camp around it?" Remni asked curiously, thinking fondly of the soft, thin blankets that had been provided.

"Dunno yet."

"And why can't we just starting walking to Fallarbour Town? We could walk by the tracks and it could pick us up if it gets moving before we arrive,"

"I don't know, Remni!"

* * *

_Author's Notes: Thanks for reading! Please, please, please review! I'm really excited to see what people have to say about this story- any related thoughts are welcome!_

_Team List:_

**Remni**\- **Carrow** (claydol), **Jackal** (luxray), **Nikko** (sharpedo), **Quil** (skarmory), **Asio** (stantler), **Tanner** (togekiss).

**Alexei**\- **Wisteria** (staraptor), **Cineraria** (luxray), **Lilium** (roserade), **Lotus** (golduck), (weavile), (hippowdon).

**Eti**\- **Detonate [Nate]** (magnezone), **Ricochet [Ric]** (rampardos), **Deadshot [De]** (lucario), (kricketune), (floatzel), **Emanate [Em] **(alakazam).

**Risa**\- **Twit** (abomasnow), **Denno** (crobat), **Renna** (rapidash), (gyarados), (mismagius), (rhyperior).

**Cassidy**\- **Arrow** (banette), (swampert), (shiftry), (masquerain), (aggron), (electabuzz).

**Fiona**\- (kirlia), (sceptile), (altaria), (swalot), (magneton), (armaldo).

**Wren**\- (blaziken), (linoone), **Adeline** (gardevoir), (mightyena), (flygon), (walrein).


	4. Chapter Four

_Thanks to the Guest reviewer! A bit more detail which I liked, don't forget to let me know if you see any errors or having any questions!_

* * *

"Gods, okay, I don't actually know what's going on," Risa finally admitted just after they cleared the tree line. "I was heading over to talk to- Wren, is it? Anyway, when I went to see him the conductor asked me to help call everyone back. Apparently he sent out a message through that app they asked us to download, but only about half the passengers received it." She sighed.

Jackal purred as he wound between them, rubbing his sides against both girls. Remni shrugged, and whined. "Aw, why'd you act like you knew what was happening?! Hopefully he'll have answers…" she said, then mock-pouted. An itch tickled against the back of her mind, and she paused her step and reflexively reached for it. The forest that ringed Mt. Chimney that they'd explored earlier popped into her thoughts. The thick-branched specimens that Remni's team had hunted amongst were just shadows behind her and Risa's physical bodies, but still loudly present at someone else's vision at the back of her head. They'd left a part of the team behind- Carrow had remained in the underbrush while the others left. When he noticed her attention, he soothed his mental field against hers, convincing her back into the open plains after her friend. Jackal had paced beside her while the psychic-type had 'waved' them off and had snarled when the claydol left them. The luxray's mouth was clean from eating, but he continued to lick his lips even as they were walking back towards the train.

Remni's watch chirped and she jerked her attention back to it. It flashed with a new message- from Lumine.

_To: Remni_

_From: Lumine_

_Re: Your Stupid Twin._

_We found Raune. Resko and I are on the smaller mountain range on Hoenn's northwest coast. There was an emergency in the area and we were called to assist. He apparently forgot to sync his pokétch up to Hoenn's digital system. There's no signal inside the mountain so I've sent Ansia up with my pokétch. She will continue to move upwards or west until the message sends properly. I hope this reaches you and that things are going well for you._

_Don't bother replying because Ansia is coming back down as soon as this is sent, but I'll tell Raune you called him an idiot anyway._

_Lumine._

Remni sighed in relief. At least Raune was alright, even if he was gonna get it when she saw him next. She thought about all the different ways she could get him back as she and Risa drew closer to the makeshift campsite.

The other travellers- who were apparently all trainers- had begun to set up some tents. Remni and Risa could see the group forming around a single carriage. The conductor, an old and deeply tanned man with mismatched facial hair stood on the step attached to the bottom of the open carriage door. He gestured wildly and shouted, but only a few words drifted over to them.

The pair quickened their pace, and Remni reached into her jacket to dig out Jackal's pokéball in order to return him. He snapped his head around to stare at the woods and open-mouth growled loudly. Immediately afterwards, he clicked his jaws shut. Startled, his trainer looked around for any sign of something that could've bothered him, concern spiking her heart rate. Nothing was immediately obvious and the growling had subsided. She racked her brain for something. He'd reacted negatively to his pokéball being brought out before but that was usually when he was very excited about staying out. Risa had begun bouncing on the balls of her feet impatiently, her eyes on the crowd gathered around the train carriages. Remni shoved the confused pit of frazzled concern into the back of her mind, and pulled the scratched pokéball free. He disappeared into the red light without any further trouble, and Remni trotted off after Risa.

Most of what the other trainer had relayed was correct- the train needed a part, or things would go south the minute they started driving again. The part needed to be made from scratch, but the shop that would manufacture it was close by Teleporting standards. Making it would only take a few days. But…

Wait.

'Why couldn't they teleport to Fallarbour Town?' She thought about it for a few moments, just enough to get into adding up how long it'd take if, worst-case scenario, there were only two psychic-types in the whole group, and each could only take one person all the way to Fallarbour at time, when someone in the crowd cleared their throat.

In the quiet murmuring that followed, a stream of thought bubbled up within her own consciousness so slowly it could've been one of her own thoughts, 'Teleportation has been heavily restricted in Hoenn ever since the terrorist groups Aqua and Magma used it to steal and siege their way through. It is heavily monitored and only allows one or two people at a time.' it was Carrow, answering her inner thoughts. His own thoughts had a ringing underlying them, a testament to the physical distance between them.

'How do they get anything done?' she asked him.

'Have you seen any of the non-main towns? They don't,' he replied, then shut down on their connection. Startled, she reached for him, pressing out questioningly against the steely barrier like placing her hand on an immoveable wall. It softened and warmed somewhat under her touch without letting anything through, so she let it go.

"Why can't we just, I don't know, walk ahead? Journey on our own feet?" a blonde trainer near the back of the crowd shouted. "I mean, it's not like we're all travelling trainers, or nothin'," they said sarcastically, and murmurs of agreement sprung up.

"Look, I know you're all very, very desperate to get where you wanted to start, then hurry up and start, but we have rules!" the conductor said gruffly. "This here mountain has a number of very rough and very strong pokémon species, and the week before and three weeks after today are the mating season for some of the largest of 'em- like the skarmory and the camerupt." He took a deep breath. "An' even if they were the only problem, the area ahead is feet deep in ash eleven out of every twelve months of the year. On top of that are all the other problems we're havin' that we don't know much about- we just can't let ya out there in separate groups." He sighed. "If we knew any earlier, we coulda let you go back out a different way, but as it is we've been stranded past the PNR, but not far enough to plow through- and y'all gotta wait it out." He continued explaining, gruff-sounding but still patient, and turned out to also be a good listener. He avidly took in the complaints and distresses of some of the more vocal trainers, but held firm and by the end of the impromptu meeting most were resigned to waiting it out for a week and a half to two, the safest upper limit he could give them.

Remni and Risa met back up with Eti, who was talking with the three trainers they decided to travel with. They were standing around near the side of one of the carriages further down. As far as either of them could tell there were no pokémon out, but there was a strange growth on Wren's neck that was sheathed in dark brown fabric with red and yellow patterns.

"Where's Alexei?" Remni asked by way of greeting while Risa said hello. Eti shrugged and pointed a thumb backwards over her shoulder towards the woods north of them.

"He went for a walk," Eti answered. "Hasn't come back yet, but left in that general direction." She folded her arms. "We were just talking about the delay."

"I honestly don't mind it," Wren said calmly, a bit of an accent roughing his words. "I think it's good to start training our new charges near a place familiar to them," he explained, grinning crookedly. He reached up to his shoulder to rub the chin of a tiny bagon that perched on his shoulder, somehow small enough to fit up there but not enough to be malnourished. It rested its sphere-shaped head against the crook of his neck and was supported by the scarf they saw earlier- a swathe of rough cloth that the trainer had wrapped around them both of them.

"It's not the worst thing that could've happened." Remni looked back to Eti as she began speaking again.

"Yeah, definitely!" Cassidy spoke up and Fiona nodded excitedly. "We could've been actually injured, or worse. And everyone here's pretty darn decent."

The group nodded and fell into a semi-awkward silence. Eti stared at the sparse grass between her feet, and lifted a shoe-covered foot to brush at it.

"Okay," Risa said suddenly. "What's your deal with the grass? You were doing the same thing in Rustboro!" she demanded, eyebrows raised and eyes wide.

Eti jerked her head up to look at her friend and her foot abruptly froze. "Oh. Uh…" she replied slowly, looking up to see all five of them staring at her. "It's just? I don't know. It seems so different to the grass in Sinnoh, but I can't explain why," she explained.

Cassidy shook blonde strands out of her face to share a frown and a Look with Fiona. "It's just grass," Fiona mumbled, "What's so weird 'bout it?" She turned towards Eti as she asked.

"It's hard to explain…" Eti furrowed her eyebrows and chewed on the inside of her lips. Risa swatted at her hands and Eti returned a grateful look. "Oops. I really don't know how to describe it…" She tilted her hands up, palm-out, and fanned her fingers out in the universal give-me-a-second-I-don't-have-the-words-for-this gesture that her friends had become very familiar with. "It has…maybe more give to it? And the colour looks different, but only at certain angles." She frowned.

"It's a different region, aint it?" Wren said, and laughed. "Of course it'll be different types of grass."

"I know but…" Eti bit her lip as she trailed off. "Don't worry about it."

"Okie dokie," Wren replied, trying to stifle his grin.

By now, Alexei had shown up and naturally he was pissed that he missed the discussion. Risa had been overly-excited in rubbing his nose in it and teamed up with Remni to tell him off about not letting them know what was happening. When he looked at Eti for reassurances, she had shaken her head and offered to scold him when the other two were done, because he wanted to act like a child. Most of it was joking, played-off worry and the four of them knew it even as they teased him, all to the amusement of their three new friends who had laughed uproariously.

They eventually split off to set up tents as the conductor had warned them out of the train carriages. Some of the engineers from the garage had opened up much of the panelling inside and spread wiring and other parts on the floor. It looked like a well organised disaster, and made all the passengers a little worried even as they were assured it was all precaution.

The train had stopped in a stretched C-shape, creating a length of shaded area that most had set up small campsites in. Most were just small tents with a bag and/or pokémon resting outside. Remni, Risa, Eti and Alexei moved towards the end of the train to set up. It only took about twenty minutes to bring out the two two-person tents and put them up, and most of that was spent rifling through the bag's storage system to find them. Remni and Eti shared one while Alexei and Risa shared the other. Alexei posted Cineraria outside their tent and Eti let Deadshot stay out when the Lucario seemed more excited than Detonate, who was also released and given the option. A few metres down from them and a bit further away from the train had three single tents pitched side-by-side, with a kirlia and a banette outside. Cassidy sat inside the entrance of the closest one, one of her hands splayed on the pages of the book on her lap and one on the back of Arrow's head. She rubbed the pads of her fingers into the banette's head and his eyes closed contentedly. She looked up to catch Risa's gaze and waved.

As the sun began to wane, Carrow flew back over from the forest. He easily picked them out from the rest of the travellers at the bird's eye view and slowly floated down towards them. A small plume of dirt sprung up as the buoyant psychic energy holding him pulsed against the ground.

Remni looked up from where she was dragging a brushing through Jackal's hind leg, and stroked the thinned fur of his flank when he made a low grumbling noise of disapproval. She set the comb down on her unrolled sleeping bag and nearly tripped when the luxray flicked his tail around her ankle. She picked it up on the top of her foot and tossed it back to him.

"Keep yourself, to yourself," she grumbled and ducked under the tent door to walk out. The air pressed against her like a blanket and she shook out her clinging shirt as she walked over to where Carrow hovered. He scooped her closer psychically and she stroked a finger over one of his amber-coloured beaks. He reached a disembodied hand out and slowly rested it in the hollow of her collarbone.

"I'm glad you're back," Remni said softly, feeling the twinge of worry that had sprung up from the same minute he departed. "You alright?" his hand was smooth and damp where it touched her skin- unlike the dryness the part ground-type usually preferred.

His voice rolled through her mind with a low vibrating undercurrent that he'd copied from years of tapping into Jackal's mind, _'I am also glad that you have avoided bodily harm since I last saw you, even though I would have known instantly had it occurred,'_ he said steadily, '_The woods here are unusually warm, even within the shade of the trees. I met with an- an absol who was willing to relay to me what she knew. She wanted to fight for the information, however, and in the middle of it one or both of us drew blood._' After she let him in, he examined the neurons receiving the sensory information from the skin of her collar bone, and lingered on the wet sensation that they picked up, '_I washed it off in a small stream further up the mountain. H- the absol whose name it would be impolite to repeat without her presence and permission directed me to it when I told her I intended to return to my trainer and teammates,_' he explained as he dropped his hand. The curious presence left the edges of her brain, back to hovering at the forefront to speak with her.

The blood would have easily been held by the stone that made up his body, so it would only take a deep soak to remove it. In turn the water itself would take time to dry out, even in the stark sunlight surrounding them.

Remni blinked against said sunlight. "Feel like throwing up a shade?" she asked, part-jokingly. "In all seriousness I'm glad things worked out, did she- did the absol tell you anything interesting?" she asked while switching to another beak. He rotated slowly to accommodate her, and when the soft, slower stroking did not deter him, she returned to the firm, steady pressure that he leaned into. For some reason, he favoured physical contact after any period of time away, but never initiated it while with his team. It didn't help that he preferred not to touch the ground and that Quil and Tanner disliked hovering in one place.

Carrow hummed softly again, this time audibly, and his eyes began to glow, not a bright flashlight beam but more of a candlelight glow. The crimson shone and reflected off of his beaks and tinged the white markings pink. A glowing purple eye-like symbol opened up in the middle of his body and a translucent violet shape grew out of it, and shimmered through the air and up into the sky. It was only a few feet around them and the sky and clouds were completely clear through them. In the early days she had doubted how functional it was, but he'd had perfected it before even considering presenting it to her. She'd yet to get even remotely darker beneath the screen, and while she wasn't 100% sure that he knew exactly what UV was…

'_Remni?...Remni!_' Carrow's calling shattered her drifting thoughts, and her eyes snapped back to him. Her hand hadn't left the third beak she'd moved to, and the motion stuttered as all five of his visible eyes managed to lock onto her, even though some lay on the opposite sides of his head.

"Sorry," Remni muttered. "Got distracted, what happened?" She shook her head to clean it and moved on to rubbing the next beak to the right. He purred and turned to allow her to continue, and she almost picked up the cooing in her own throat as it reverberated through her head as well as her fingertips.

'_The absol lives with a group on the mountain, and has noticed the temperature inside it rise over the last few weeks. A number of areas caved in due to excess fighting and a stampede. She has a very good memory, and also consulted with a few older individuals from the previous generation. The aggression cycles with the seasons, but the cave-ins are more common than they used to be. I suspect the population of slugma and magcargo has increased also increased as the volcano has grown in strength, but I have no previous record to compare to_,' he said, slowly and she couldn't tell if it was because of her earlier lapse or due to his tendency to remember situations part-by-part.

"If you wanted to, I could probably contact the Slateport Marine Research Facility and see if they can direct us to someone who has records of the slugma/magcargo line's population?" she asked him.

He hummed softly, again both audibly and sub-psychically, '_Perhaps at a later date. I need to properly catalogue everything I have learned today._' He moved back a pace, out of her reach and the psychic field cupping her shoulders receded. He tapped at her watch without looking, and blinked when he came up empty-handed.

"Oh." Remni blinked at him, still mentally recounting the number of beaks she had petted and encoding the ones she'd missed into her memory for when they had to settle down before bed. "I took them all out. I was worried about them screwing up with how weird the tech is in this area. Luka texted me about a full wipe of a few trainer's PC's a few weeks back in Unova and now I'm paranoid." She laughed shakily, and rifled through her right jacket pocket to come up with another scratched pokéball. If not for the dents in the sides that made the two halves scrape together every time they opened and closed, it'd be hard to tell it apart from Jackal's and Asio's.

She held it out in the palm of her hand and let him work his way through the mechanisms and crack it open of his own accord. The ball snapped opened to 45 degrees and a red glow coalesced in the mirrored halves. When the energy didn't immediately launch towards the psychic-type, she looked back up at him. Three of his eyes were on hers, the others glazed and he floated nearer. He tilted his head to regard her, presumably from a slightly different perspective, then butted his head into her chest. She 'oofed' and her arms immediately came up around him even as he already backed away.

'_Thank you for the offer,_' he crooned again. He let her crook two fingers around the thinner end of his hand in an almost-embrace, then vanished back into his pokéball.

She pressed the warming device beneath her chin as it hummed and re-organised Carrow's energy signature amongst the rest of its code. Jackal chirruped again, demanding her attention and she turned back with a sigh.

"When are you going to get over this?" she asked, and huffed.

They spent most of the time falling back into 'travelling trainer' mode. Most of the trainers that had entered Hoenn to help were out of practice, as many who were in the middle of training trips were unwilling to leave their journey partway through. According to Luka's messenger, a sleek pidgeot that had arrived from Kanto, this was 78% of the reason that Remni's oldest sister had refused to participate. When further queried, the large bird had rolled its shoulder in a distinctly scholarly way that left even expert-in-breeding-and-thus-behaviour Alaine baffled. It returned to Luka as soon as it had delivered the message, and Remni and Raune had argued furiously over any secrets Luka might've been hiding. She was usually the second most willing (after Raune) to dive into something new, even if it meant abandoning whatever she was currently occupied with.

Of all the trainers that wanted to travel to Lavaridge Town, the majority fell under the category of 'out of practice' and needed to take the time to get back into the habits of training. As Remni and her team moved through the outskirts of the forest at the base of Mt. Chimney they came across many half-built campsites. A myriad of tents, still within view of the train and the watchful conductor, were pitched along the tree line. Often there would be a pokémon laying down inside a tent and watching over the site or pacing the boundary of the small territory. Occasionally in the deeper parts Remni and Quil were swooped by aggressive, trained staraptor and swellow who flew down from swags attached to the tops of the thicker, stronger branches of the old trees.

During these attacks both trainer and pokémon would encourage Victus to send up clouts of dirt or small rocks to throw at and distract the flying attackers, before Quil would rise up to defend them properly. It helped with his accuracy, and Remni liked to think he felt braver for it. By the time they arrived at the area they wanted to train in each day, he would accurately be hitting three targets of every ten, then one more the next day, and another the day after that. In the few days since they'd picked him up, he'd grown about a foot in every direction. He was now on par with a newborn bred trapinch. Once the initial major growth-spurt (one that all newly caught or hatched pokémon seemed to experience) finally passed, his growing evened out to a slower and steadier rate, his attacks began to improve as well. Once he had the beginnings of control over his Rock Tomb move, Quil flew the two of them higher up the hill, still under Remni's watch, but out of the way to show him her own Rock Slide and Stone Edge, and work specifically on those rock-type moves. On the forest floor the rest of the team raced around trees, used a sturdy ball-like leather sack to play a rudimentary chasing and protecting-type game for stamina and launched beam attacks into the air to practice their distance and range. Back on the Alvern Breeding Grounds, most battles happened in close quarters as they chased away wild pokémon, and distance attacks were more than a little lacking.

In the early evening most of the Lavaridge-bound trainers set up campfires and sat around to talk. Most had turned up in groups or at least partners and were very willing to chat after spending the day training or shallowly exploring the forest. Some trainers had a pokémon or two of their sprawled in front of them for affection or grooming, and more often than not Remni had to break out the huge, long and thick rubber-toothed comb to rid Jackal of the dried up plants and leaf litter that quickly tangled into his coat. After digging out a semi-permanent trench for Nikko to spend time in in the cooler evenings and shading it with old sheets and branches from the woods, she would kneel in the shallow edges and using a steel brush to help clean his teeth, which had retained some damage from digging through reefs and the fighting a few days ago on in the waters off of the coast by Rustboro City.

The conductor, who had finally introduced himself as Sir Auronus Maszari, had very carefully drawn out a map in the dirt for them, and painstakingly programmed a boundary line in each pokétch, pokédex, town map and other devices the trainers had- strongly impressing on them that they were not to cross it. He had warned them that a few of his pokémon would be patrolling the area as well and ensure that they stayed within the bounds.

There wasn't a single trainer who didn't think of rebelling, but every time they neared the invisible line, knowingly or not, a tall absol that was muscled and springy like a luxray had headed them off. It appeared partway up the mountain- silent and invisible right up until it desired to be seen, then disappeared without a trace. If a circle was drawn around the camp, the south semi-circle was patrolled by Maszari's absol, while the north side had a huge skarmory guarding the edges. This one was probably male, but for some reason paled in size compared to Quil. Her skarmory flicked her wings in interested and stood taller in front of the newcomer, but Victus' excited keening over a KO'ed sandshrew drew her back down to earth.

Maszari's skarmory was just as strange, silent but intimidating, and used the infrequent sandstorms to cloak itself while it snuck up on disobedient trainers. Carrow suspected it was using an overly powered and modified Sandstorm to create the effect, but the swirling energy that deeply permeated the vast dessert made it hard for the psychic-type to scan and see. The skarmory exhibited no obvious physical signs of an attack, so no one could tell if it was using an attack or not.

That night, when it was very late and most had gone to bed, Remni and Carrow poured over training ideas and schedules, comparing them to old ones that Luka had sent them from when she travelled in Hoenn, as well as ones they'd created for themselves in Sinnoh and Johto. Jackal pooled at her feet whenever she sat down, and she ran his brush through his coat twice-over for every day he wandered through the forest. Nikko began to get frustrated with the small pond and started to rub his fangs against the rocks at the bottom the water-type canal. She fished his steel-toothed brush out of her bag and rubbed the chips out each morning before returning him. He enjoyed being out most of the time, but the sun was too hot during the day and the longer he spent out the more likely it was that he'd damage his teeth.

"We need a long-term solution," Remni asked Carrow, cutting herself off halfway through talking about the sharpedo's teeth.

'_We could suspend a large amount of water in a bubble for a few hours every day, but it would have to be a longer one to keep some of them separate.'_ He flipped a few pages, then reshuffled them and stacked them into a pile and set it aside to hold their attention on this new topic.

"I think if Nikko gets cabin fever it will take forever for him to readjust." Remni sighed.

'_If the sharpedo is suffering I am assuming that Backlash, Annushka and Lotus are as well,'_ Carrow said. '_Perhaps you could convince the others to take a seaside holiday?_' he asked, and sighed aloud. The sound was more of a rounded off screech than the usual hum as he recalled Eti's floatzel, Risa's gyarados and Alexei's golduck.

Remni brushed a palm over one of his remaining beak in thanks, and settled back onto her sleeping bag to think. The night was cool from wind blown off of the icebergs passing off the coast to the west, for once not heating over the mountains before it reached them. She zipped the tent closed and wrapped herself in the unzipped sleeping bag. Jackal curled up against her back and she growled into the biting air and rolled over, tucking her front into his side. He leaned his jaws on top of his paws and yawned, then opened one eye to look at her. She flicked his nose and yanked the tangle of jackets and clean socks wrapped in a pillow case under her head, then closed her eyes. His warm breath puffed on her face for the rest of the night, but it was worth it.

She sighed roughly, nearly an hour later. Jackal continued to snore but her eyes were still open. Every time she tried to close them and make her mind go blank they slowly slipped back open. As she breathed an ache woke up from the side of her hip that she was lying on up to the middle of her back. She brought her hands up and pushed very slowly at the luxray's shoulders to shift him back a few centimetres. She shuffled her legs a bit and tucked the sleeping bag underneath her. Thumping her head back onto the makeshift pillow and stubbornly reached for sleep.

Two hours later she woke with a start. Hazy feelings of dark, hard stone under her fingertips and against her back were fading from her mind, trailing away like the wind as she grabbed for them. She sat up and crossed her legs under the sleeping bag, then folded her hands in her lap. The ribbons that she'd tied onto her wrists had tightened in her sleep and she shook them loose.

"Nightmares?" A voice asked softly, and Remni looked over to see Eti awake in her own blankets. The other girl shuffled upright into a sitting position and stretched her arms in front of her, crossing them at the elbows to keep them under the poncho-like blanket wrapped behind her. Identical ribbons dangled from her own wrists, longer then Remni's and with dried grass tied to them as well.

Remni sighed again, "Yeah, nightmares. I can barely remember them but they're still…haunting," she said.

"I thought these would work, they always did back home," Eti said, bemused, and lifted her wrists. The light pink and gold ribbons intertwined on her right wrist had two bells, various petals, some local grass and a strand of hair all intertwined to create the charm. A small net of rope joined the two ends, holding a marble-sized fragment of rose quartz. The gem was rough- the few smooth areas forged entirely from the dirt wherein it lay. It contained swirls of white and even tiny flecks of gold- crushed from a Sinnohan dream-catching trinket and sealed onto the gem with varnish. The one on her left wrist had all the same extras, with the only differences being the presence of black and light grey ribbons instead of pink and gold. It held a fragment of dusk stone in it. The stone was just as unrefined, excluding only the outer layer of varnish used to keep it unblemished. The charms were prayers and offerings to the patron saints of dreams and nightmares, respectively.

"Maybe-" Remni yawned. "Maybe it's because we're in a different region." she said softly. The night was near-silent, only the distant wind and rustling of the forest creating noise, and she tried to keep just as quiet.

"I feel like that shouldn't matter." Eti frowned, then shrugged. She struggled back beneath her sleeping bag and blankets. "I'm gonna ask Em to knock me out, would you like me to ask her for you as well?" She asked politely.

"Yes, please."

The next morning when the sun was still a dream and the sky shimmered pink, Remni wandered back to camp. She'd woken early straight into an anxiety attack over another dream she couldn't fully remember and with the faint feeling of falling. Even after calming down, she couldn't sleep. Taking a walk seemed to be the best idea until she realised she'd forgotten to tell the others and her pokétch messaging system wasn't working.

On the way back a small plume of smoke was rising from where the campfires had been lit, and she rounded the corner of a train carriage to see a blonde trainer sitting on the ground. He had a square sheet of metal laying half across his lap, a gardevoir kneeling on a mat beside him and had his eyes on an arcanine a few feet in front of him. The huge pile of fur had a bucket between its front paws and was steadily breathing fire around it. As she watched the slender psychic-type raised its arms and a stream of silvery liquid emerged. The thin aura of pink energy surrounding it drew it through the air towards the other two where it slowly began to spread. It formed another square, thin sheet before hardening. After a few moments it was floated down in a metal tray full of clear water, and lowered inside. Steam exploded upwards, hissing loudly, and much of the water had to be replaced by a mantine that floated a foot of the ground beside it. He repeated the motion once more, scooping the second and third pieces into his lap with the sharp noise of metal on metal. He shifted to hold them more carefully, and Remni caught sight of a dented metal bowl beside him, the wooden handle of a spoon sticking out of it. Chewing on her lip, encouraged by Carrow and almost confident in her understanding of the scene before her, she stepped closer. She purposefully thumped her feet a little louder to make them noticeable.

To his credit, the trainer didn't jump, and just looked up at her. His blue, blue eyes crinkled when he smiled, a slightly crooked grin that was a little goofy but mostly boy-next-door charming.

"It's a bit-ah!" she squawked as one of her feet scuffed a bit too hard on the ground and she stumbled. He flinched towards her but she'd righted herself instantly. "Oh my gods…uh…bit early for bread isn't it? She asked, and gestured to the bowl next to him. That white-brown mix was pretty obvious to anyone who'd ever tried making bread while travelling.

He frowned a little, eyes distant. "Nah," he answered warmly. "Not if it's for breakfast! Wanna sit and watch? Or help out?" He patted the ground a foot away from him with his pinky finger, a patch of ground that would put him between her and his pokémon. Jackal nudged her with his shoulder, and she planted her open palm against his shoulder and shoved him back before walking over. She carefully picked a spot that wouldn't break up the team, and sat down cross-legged. The luxray followed her and lay his chin on her shoulder when she settled.

"Thanks." She wasn't overly comfortable, but tucking her knees close kept her from encroaching on the other trainer's space. He looked at her for a moment, eyebrows raised, then back to what he was doing.

"I'm Keith," he said.

"Remni," she replied. "Sorry for -well- interrupting. Have you done this before?" she asked.

His head drooped a little and the arcanine whined. "That obvious huh?" he asked morosely.

The gardevoir shot her a glare and Remni threw her hands up in surrender. She tried to explain, "No!- I didn't mean!... I've never seen someone build one from scratch, is all." She dropped her hands back into her lap, only to be thwarted by Jackal when he flopped his head there instead. She tucked her fingers into his mane when the gardevoir's glare eased.

"Oh," he said in faint surprise, then startled her by bursting into choppy, raucous laughter. It wasn't a smooth Hollywood-style crescendo, or maniacal cackling. It was just kind of halting and breathless. It was nice. He immediately clapped a hand over his mouth and peered about the clearing, but either no one heard him or no one wanted to acknowledge it, because none of the tent flaps around them even rustled. Remni let out a burst of soft chuckling when he finally relaxed. He furrowed his eyebrows at her, but relaxed further when she just smiled back.

"Sorry, you know, for laughing at you," he said breathily. "You're a lot like an old friend of mine, and I was just a bit startled." He laughed again, quiet but just as breathy and she catalogued the noise without thinking. It was like and unlike Alexei's hurried cackling, or Risa's raucous but steady one. Jackal begun purring and the vibrations moved into her legs, chest and arms where his head and throat rested against. He was big enough to take up all of the room. Between her limbs, and leaning on him didn't even look like a slump.

"It's okay," she replied. "I hope they were a _good_ old friend?"

He grinned. "She was. Can you hold this for me?" he asked, holding out one of the squares. She reached out immediately and flattened her hands against the side facing down, supporting it without grasping it. Keith lifted another one, and set their edges together at right angles to each other. The gardevoir slipped a roll of masking tape from his pocket, and psychically wrapped it along the crease to hold the pieces together.

"Oh!" Remni suddenly said as they worked. "This is Jackal, by the way," she said and gestured towards his dark-furred head with an elbow.

"Nice to meet you, Jackal," Keith replied, looking at the luxray and smiling when he opened his eyes to look back. He laughed when the electric-type just snorted. "He's a charmer! This is Lupo-" he looked at the arcanine, who yawned, "Caligulette-" the mantine fluttered his wings in the air at the call of his name, "-and Narsch." He gestured with his chin at the gardevoir, who watched them with level eyes. It finally turned its head to look at Remni, who immediately felt a cool tapping on her mental barriers, like glass wind chimes blown against a window.

Barely a moment passed before Carrow surged to the surface and engaged the gardevoir. Remni physically flinched and her fingers stuttered around the plate she held. Luckily it was too thickly wrapped in tape to move far, and she easily regained her grip. She felt the cool, foreign presence retreat as her teammate psychically snarled at it. The two psychic-types created another link, this time through the human's outermost mental barrier, to speak to each other. The messages came rapidly and made an ache grow in her forehead. She rubbed the area with a grumble and a mental whine prompting the two to 'break apart'. The separation forcibly shattered the temporary link, and her teammate soothed psychic energy over the ruptured area in her barrier, smoothing the wrinkles and sealing the split. He offered a wordless mess of emotion, tossed like a ball into the centre of her mind, and when she poked at the ball it opened like a flower, spilling a tangle of satiated curiosity, steady support fading affection, all wrapped in warmth and softness to round of the edges.

Carrow's presence had begun to fade, and she mentally turned away from him as the feeling of movement at her barriers again. She caught the tail end of a murmur and sought it out to find an apology wrapped neatly like a gift placed at the base of her foremost barrier. She brought up feelings of friendly affection and pushed it against the boundary. Beyond it, the gardevoir felt the small pulse and cupped psychic hands around it. Warmth grew like a campfire built at the edge of her mind, beginning to soothe the ache left by the abrupt entrance of her teammate and the confrontation. Remni dragged out old feelings of friendship and camaraderie- feelings she'd initially felt just before the beginning of her journey and had used to win over a bouncing baby baltoy, and offered them to the warily interested gardevoir. The gardevoir radiated amused pleasure and hummed audibly, this noise obvious to both her trainer and the three other pokémon who weren't privy to the psychic exchange.

Remni snapped back to reality, and immediately looked down when she realised she had been staring into Narsch's eyes the entire time. Keith had watched the entire exchange with wide-eyed intrigue, and she saw him smile softly as she shook the glaze from her eyes.

"Sorry," she apologised, but he was already shaking his head.

"No worries," he replied with another toothy grin. "It's nice to see Narsch getting to talk to someone whose, ah- mentally empathetic? Like that," He waved a hand towards her head, like that explained everything. "I'm guessing you have a psychic that taught you?" he asked conversationally, and lifted the metal out of her hands to slide it in front of Lupo. The arcanine grinned with all of his teeth before blowing a concentrated wisp of fire over the tape. It burned up immediately, but the heat had already hit and softened the steel beneath, and it was stuck together before all the tape had even been burnt up. Caligulette the mantine shuffled over like a beached seel and blew out a thin Ice Beam, quickly cooling the metal. The resulting seam was a mess of puffed metal, but ultimately held firm even as Keith scooped it up by one side and shook it. He whooped when it failed to break, and passed it onto her for inspection. Remni caught it by the opposite edge and lifted it up. It was distinctly heavier than the single piece she'd supported, but was sturdy and shiny in the light. She grinned as she handed it back to him, and he set it aside on a corner of Narsch' sitting rug to begin another one.

Realising she'd been asked a question, Remni's head jerked upright. The thought of ignoring it and missing her cue in the conversation made her heart flutter painfully and an urge to flee build in her calves. She stamped down hard on it, struggling to rationalise the lapse internally while apologising under her breath.

"Hey." He interrupted, turning a little to face her properly. "Don't worry about, uhh, anything, okay? I'm not gonna judge you for wandering off mentally," he said and chuckled. Remni's face burned, but she knew from experience that a red blush wouldn't show up as effectively on her tan skin. Like her mom's and most of her siblings, they were born with camouflaged cheeks.

"Th-thanks," she replied, still quiet and bothered. Her heart began to calm down and Jackal staggered his purring to coax it to sync up to the slower pace. She stroked his neck gratefully.

"I mean it," he said seriously. "You've done nothing wrong,"

"I-" she began, a hundred thoughts running through her head. It was…comforting, and definitely what she needed to hear. Harder to accept because it came from a stranger, and weird to hear it from someone who wasn't Eti, Alexei or Risa. She settled for another smile and bypassed replying entirely in favour of fixing her mistake. "One of my teammates is a claydol- uh, a ground/psychic-type native to Hoenn. His name's Carrow and he was part of my original team," she said. She was unsure if she was giving away too much, but most if not all registered trainer's teams were public record. "He thought it was really important, and used to…I guess hold? He used to hold the emotions I felt and show me how to move them around in a way that could communicate them non-verbally. I've got the hang of it, but it's still pretty basic. It…ah, it takes practice like everything else."

"Nice!" he complimented sincerely. "Wish Narsch would teach me that. Not so into non-verbal communication, that one," he said and gestured at the gardevoir with an elbow while both hands support a cooling steel square. He'd picked up and pulled on a pair of tough leather gloves while Lupo and Narsh spun the third plate, "Always seems to prefer direct telepathy. Not sure why." He grunted as a corner brushed his wrist and left a tiny red burn. He motioned awkwardly at Caligulette, curling his fingers, and the serene-looking mantine obediently blew a plume of cool water onto the mark.

Remni scooped the new square out of his hands to let him angle his wrist better, balancing it on the flat undersides of her fingers and palms to let the weight and heat spread evenly, and ease the impact of both. He grumbled as he rubbed a thumb over the burn.

They kept going, more or less in a welcome silence that Remni used to run through the brief conversation in her head. She picked through each sentence and combed them for any unintended meaning. Finding them suitable, and deciding that there was nothing that would negatively affect any future conversation, she went on to plan other questions he might have and the answers she was ready to provide. About her team? Previous Gym and League challengers? She ran one or two-sentence replies to both these questions in her head until surety underlay them and even her mind didn't stutter over the words. He obviously noticed her nervousness earlier, and despite feeling more at ease with the single reassurance, she couldn't help but plan for the worst. Would he ask about it? Would it be too much to reply? She bit her lip. Both 'I'm kind of a nervous person' and 'I have two diagnosed anxiety disorders' didn't really lend themselves well to casual conversation with someone who was basically a stranger. Lost in her thoughts, she jerked and stared when Keith suddenly spoke.

"Your lip is bleeding," he said calmly, gaze sliding from her mouth back to the welded squares in his hands then to her mouth again. "Doing alright?" he asked casually, without looking back at her.

Remni's jaw went slack, released the poor, tender flesh with swift inhale. As soon as it was released it began to sting, and salt wetness burst over her tongue as she prodded at the abused tissue with it. She felt along a mid-length cut that luckily wasn't too wide from her blunt human teeth, and licked at it until the blood flow slowed. She frowned at herself, then licked her lips a few more times to ensure there was no leftover stains. She ducked her head when he hummed, to himself presumably.

She peered at him from under her lashes, but when he still wasn't looking at her she slowly sat up again. '_Everything's fine,_' she thought to herself.

He balanced his welded plates in one hand, and reached the other out for hers. She lowered it in corner-first so that it would be easier for him to support it one-handed, then jerked back to hold on when it wobbled. He laughed, a nervous short puff of air and said thanks. His fingers were long enough to reach a bit up the sides, but she flattened her palm against the middle of the panel just in case. Without his watching her and with Jackal purring warmly against her side, having finally rolled out of her lap, it was easy for the tense line of her shoulders to relax, and for her to manually wrestle the regulations of her own breathing back under control.

"I'm fine," she replied belatedly. "Just lost in thought. You want me to hold this up while-err-Lupo, is it? While Lupo welds it?" she asked, cutting herself off to look at the lightly-dozing arcanine.

Keith grinned. "That's right, nice job," he told her.

She studied his broad grin for any sign of sarcasm. When she came up with nothing, she just nodded.

He laughed again, and said. "Nah though, we won't hold it, we'll dig it into the sand a bit and make sure it's evened out, then let him go for it."

He went to take off his fingerless gloves to sweep the dirt, and she shuffled over as well, then leaned down and dragged a hand over it, helping him smooth out an area. Together they created a shallow, wide depression in the middle. They put both corners in and wiggled them until about an inch of dirt covered the bottom and the sides touched. From their respective sides they both heaped dirt against the outer edges to force the sides together, and both collected a few decent sized rocks to plant against it. Snorting embers in impatience, Lupo shouldered the both of them out of the way, ignoring Jackal's challenging snarl and positioned his head directly over the partly-buried 'box'. He tilted his jaws down, opened them wide and spewed a torrent of flame over it. Both trainers backed up quickly, Keith nearly tripping over one of Jackal's hind paws, not falling but still stepping on it, and it earned him the second snarl in just as many minutes. Remni rubbed her dirty fingers between his ears soothingly, but he either didn't care about the mess or enjoyed the touch too much and relented with another purr. This one was more growling noise than thrumming vibration, but it eased back into it as Keith apologised and stepped back.

They quickly finished it after that, with both trainers becoming more eager as the finish line was in view. Narsh psychically lifted the tray of bread dough into Remni's less-filthy-but-still-not-all-that-great-fingers over Keith's stained-dark-grey-from-dust ones. The gardevoir had scooped it up earlier when the two trainer begun moving around, without either noticing.

Remni slid the tray onto a sixth steel panel, which lay flat on the dirt, and they flipped the open box upside-down to place it over the top. The bottom panel was slightly smaller to prevent it from being sealed together, and on top of that Narsch had to wrap the entire six-panel system on both sides with psychic energy to prevent the metal from melting onto the bread. Without the right tools for a hinge, a heat-resistant coating or anything else vaguely-functional, they defaulted Plan B: almost-functional. Keith knelt in front of his arcanine and quietly went over something. He didn't try to speak up or share the details, but it was easy for anyone present to guess that he was probably reaffirming the correct temperatures.

As the fire-type assumed the position he used earlier- all arched shoulders, tensed muscles and gaping maw, Remni revelled in the quiet peace of working together on something simple, and eagerly accepted the high-five that Keith offered. They both stood back, and Remni offered Lupo a thumbs up when he looked back to his trainer a third time.

"Just do it, can't be all that bad," Keith 'encouraged'. Narsch's eyes rolled dramatically and a pokéball from the pile on the mat was snatched up in a ball of psychic-pink energy. It was dropped unceremoniously onto Caligulette, who cried out. It absorbed the water/flying-type and then flew through the air towards Keith after it finished.

'Take care of your fish _properly,_' the gardevoir spoke coolly and still telepathically, extending a one-way tag-a-long line to Remni to let her in but prohibit her from speaking. Narsch's eyes glowed with purple fire even as the psychic energy dissipated. Keith called out another apology, but Lupo's Flamethrower was a cacophony in their ears and Remni bet none of it got through to Narsch. Keith bit his lip and his eyes closed halfway. To anyone who had never worked with a psychic-type, he might've been shielding his eyes against the blaze. But at this distance and with her experience with Carrow, Remni knew the glaze in his eyes meant something else, even if she wasn't privy to that particular mental conversation.

The fire sent waves of heat over them, nothing dangerous, but uncomfortable enough. It was good Narsch remembered to protect Caligulette, the heat would've dried up the mantine's skin quite badly if he'd been out for this one. The previous meldings were short even if they were hotter, but this one would be at least ten or fifteen times as long. She checked her watch to keep an eye on the timer- Keith said that Lupo could sustain a continuous stream of fire for ten minutes, so they'd do it in blocks.

The fire slowly died down, and Lupo backed away from the box. It glowed white-hot for a few extra seconds, then dulled back to the original grey. Keith pressed open Caligulette's pokéball and aimed it so the water/flying-type would land near to the box. It glowed white with heat and pink with psychic energy, creating an eerily beautiful shimmer. A glowing bump appeared under the male trainer's shirt, and slipped out of the jacket. The great ball flew through the air in a straight line, and slowed to a standstill at Narsch's chest. The rounded red fin clicked the button, and it snapped open and summoned the gardevoir back inside. Even with the psychic-type sealed inside, a ring of flickering purple energy surrounded the device and floated it gently back over. Keith snatched it out of the air, head lowered with red cheeks and tucked it away again.

"I wish Narsch wouldn't do that…" he muttered to himself. Remni heard and looked at him, but decided not to comment. The psychic-type had clearly had enough of their little project.

Keith looked sideways at her, "Don't think it was about you, or anything, pokéballs have always been preferable than staying out here. Sensory overstimulation has always been a huge problem for the ralts line that Narsch came from," he said unhappily. "It was a big issue in Kanto a few years ago."

Remni's ears figuratively perked at that. "You mean that Kantonese breeder that was done for burglary and abuse? Who stole the offspring of a Hoenn Champion's Elite team?" she asked, eyes wide.

His eyebrows furrowed, "Yeah! Some guy, Ancari-something, his name was." His frown deepened, and Remni began to feel nervous. Was he angry at her? "How do you know about that? I thought they tried to keep it quiet."

Oh. "My parents run one of the major breeding businesses in Sinnoh," Remni answered. "Every breeder and their kids know about that case. Housing inspections near tripled in intensity and timing after that, and they updated all the regulations surrounding them. The changes took weeks to implement and my mum was called in once to have a look at some of them and discuss. It was the first time in nearly a century that a single issue in a single region cause change in the legislation of multiple regions," Remni explained.

"Oh!" he said, eyes wide. "Of course you are. I should've recognised you. I didn't mean to accuse you of anything- I used to be a ranger and they taught us to be real paranoid after Rank 7."

"Recognised me…? Oh a ranger! Cool! I didn't think many people left the Ranger Corps?" she asked.

"Yeah, my sister's a ranger too, and she's based primarily in Sinnoh. When they overhauled all the old breeder regulations she was one of the rangers assigned to the inspections there. There were pictures and files on your parents all over the place for the entire three months they went on. I used to see them when we vid-chatted," he said and laughed. "And yeah, we mostly don't. But there's a small percentage that do and that's me!" he exclaimed, and jabbed a thumb at his own chest. "Also, I met your cousin,"

Remni's heart basically stopped, "Which one? The mean one?"

He just looked at her, "I _think_ I've only met one 'Alvern' in Hoenn, but yeah, she was kinda mean?" he said, a question in his tone.

She rolled her eyes and bit back the venomous anger churning in her stomach. She didn't want to talk about Sari. She remembered the slight darkening of his eyes when he talked about leaving the Ranger Corps, and replied, "I won't ask about why you left if you don't ask me about _her._" It felt a little petty, being snide about her cousin to a stranger. But he didn't grow up with her cousin.

He laughed but it was awkward and cut off part way. "It's a deal." He pointed at the box and said, "Hey, it might be cool enough. Let's see what 'Mountainside Cooking with Friends: The Sequel' looks like," he joked and wandered over.

"So you have done this before!" she accused as she followed him, but laughed anyway.

While they chatted, Caligulette had slowly drizzled water onto the box until it stopped steaming, and shuffled around to send his trainer a dopey grin as they approached. The water from his body had already begun to drip and pool, but much steadier and slighter than Nikko, or any other water-types Remni had seen.

"Why isn't the area flooded from his hydrokinesis?" she asked curiously. The mantine had his eyes closed and blew tiny bubbles while Keith knelt rubbed his fingertips against his pokémon's antennae.

"It's because he's part flying-type," Keith replied. He looked at her over his shoulder. "He doesn't need as much water, so he produces less."

"Huh," Remni answered and raised her eyebrows. "I never thought about that." She walked towards the box and knelt next to it, cautiously reaching towards a side panel. She turned her hand around and lightly brushed the back of it against the metal. When it didn't burn her, she pressed harder a few more times, then finally flipped her hand around to press the more sensitive pads of her fingertips to it. The metal was pleasantly warm.

Keith crouched down on the other side. "Alright, let's open it up," he said enthusiastically, and gripped the corners closest to him. Remni nodded and mirrored the action, and they both lifted it up. A breath of heated, wet air blew over both their faces, and both trainers leaned away. Keith thanked her and turned the box over. They slowly lowered it until it lay with the open side facing towards the sky.

The tray of bread was surprisingly intact. It was in varying shades of light and dark brown, but very little to no black. Keith sent her an excited smile before retrieving a hunting knife from a sheath attached to one of his boots. He tipped the tray on its side and used the knife to help it slip free of the tin, then cut a slice. He immediately lifted it to his face, and Remni watched as he inhaled the fresh bread smell directly from the source. His face lit up, then his eyes immediately darted to hers and he paused. A moment passed before he handed the bread over. Startled, Remni rapidly rubbed her hands against the sides of her thighs to attempt to clean them, before giving up and accepting the slice of bread. Keith cut another, and dug in without even thinking about any spreads. Encouraged by his enthusiasm, Remni took a bite.

It was- warm. Soft in the middle but with hard bits littering the outside. Pretty basic and bland, and without any of the small nuts and seeds that most travellers generally included in their food to up the vitamin count- or whatever it was those tiny things contained. She polished it off before Keith, and immediately felt self-conscious- did she look too desperate? Did he think she didn't eat, or something? Mortified, she rubbed the back of her hand over her mouth to clear the thankfully-microscopic crumbs. Keith just grinned at her with breadcrumb-flecked teeth and held out the knife. He spun it around between his pinched thumb and forefinger so that the flat of the blade pressed into his palm and the handle pointed towards her. Remni smiled back and plucked it out of his hands. It was sharp and serrated, and she had to saw rather than slice, but was easily able to cut another slice. It was incrementally bigger then the first, but didn't bother her. She tore a length of the crust off and fed it to Jackal, who licked his lips but didn't snatch.

On his third piece, Keith followed Remni's example and tore it in half, then one of the halves in two again. He offered each of the smaller bits to Caligulette and Lupo respectively, who had watched as Jackal accepted his piece from Remni's fingers, and was now lapping crumbs from his paws.

Either Narsch refused, Keith already knew, or the gardevoir hadn't been asked, because after that he left the remaining loaf. He accepted his knife back and sawed the rest of the it in half, and passed her half. He shook his head at her reluctant disagreement, and held it out for so long the moment was a little awkward. It was nice and the girl liked it, but…

"All of this stuff is yours, and you put in half the effort _at least_ on top of that!" she exclaimed

"…So it belongs to me and I can do what I want with it. Including giving it to nice girls that help without expecting anything in return, apparently," he explained after a moment of thought. "Sorry I don't have anything you can wrap it in."

She rolled her eyes. "Ah, yes, how dare you graciously give me half-decent food and not fully prepare everything," she said sarcastically. He was quiet for a second, and her eyes snapped back to him- Did she overstep?

But Keith just laughed, "Pffft! No! Aha, no worries then," he said good-naturedly.

As soon as Remni fully dematerialised the leftover bread into her bag, another trainer with shadowed eyes and a greasy mop of black hair had wandered over to them. Whoever-it-was yawned widely and waved a hand hello, then sat on the ground between Lupo and Keith and slumped against the blond trainer with a sigh. The arcanine immediately perked up and licked the stranger's cheek animatedly, even as they appeared to fall asleep instantly, and Keith's lips split into a wide grin. "C'mon, _dude_, don't be rude. Say hi," he said, and nudged the guy with his elbow. Keith's friend (?) groaned dramatically and hauled his head up to rest his chin on Keith's shoulder, and opened one bright eye to squint at Remni.

"Hey," he said flatly. "He drag you into that cooking thing too?" he asked, and picked a hand up to flap at the discarded bucket of metal and empty bread tray. "Sucks, dude."

"Uh, yeah, I guess?" she replied, not sure what to make of the newcomer. "It wasn't that bad."

Reise nodded sleepily, and muttered something which trailed off into silence. Remni stared awkwardly at a tree in the distance before getting to her feet.

"Alright, nice to meet you? I gotta go spend time with my team and see where my baby dragon is at," she said nervously.

"Nice to meet you, too," Keith replied sincerely. "Good luck with your dragon!" He returned to his leftover bread, sawed off another slice and then shredded it. Reise murmured something that she couldn't hear from where she stood.

"Thanks. See you around, I guess?" she said, bit her lip for repeating herself, then turned around to walk back to her tent.

"See ya!" Keith called after her.

* * *

_Author's Notes: This is more of a filler/transition chapter than a plot one, but we'll be getting into bigger messes next time! Hope what was happening in the bread-making scenes were at least a little clear, some of the motions were harder to convey than others. Thanks for reading! Pleaaaase remember to review!_

_I had some trouble fitting the scenes in this chapter together as well. And honestly the number of times I accidentally wrote 'Lipo' instead of 'Lupo' nearly killed me. I also said 'telepathetically' so many times when I wanted to write 'telepathically' which was pretty insulting. Sorry Narsch, Word's dictionary has some beef._

_Also: I fixed an error in an earlier chapter where Alexei's luxray, Cineraria, was misnamed Keenan. This was a working name that sat as a placeholder while I worked out the theme I wanted for his team, then forgot to delete it. I don't think anyone noticed because no one said anything, but I didn't want anyone to get confused._

_Anyway, thanks for reading! Hope you enjoy it =]_

_Cheers to Carrow for clearing up another handful of names. One day we'll know all of them…_

**Team Lists-**

**Remni**\- **Carrow** (claydol), **Jackal** (luxray), **Nikko** (sharpedo), **Quil** (skarmory), **Asio** (stantler), **Tanner** (togekiss).

**Alexei**\- **Wisteria** (staraptor), **Cineraria** (luxray), **Lilium** (roserade), **Lotus** (golduck), (weavile), (hippowdon).

**Eti**\- **Detonate [Nate]** (magnezone), **Ricochet [Ric]** (rampardos), **Deadshot [De]** (lucario), (kricketune), **Backlash [Lassie]** (floatzel), **Emanate [Em] **(alakazam).

**Risa**\- **Twit** (abomasnow), **Denno** (crobat), **Renna** (rapidash), **Annushka** (gyarados), **Leila **(mismagius), (rhyperior).

**Cassidy**\- **Arrow** (banette), (swampert), (shiftry), (masquerain), (aggron), (electabuzz).

**Fiona**\- (kirlia), (sceptile), (altaria), (swalot), (magneton), (armaldo).

**Wren**\- (blaziken), (linoone), **Adeline** (gardevoir), (mightyena), (flygon), (walrein).


	5. Chapter Five

Eti was lightly stretching inside their shared tent, and smiled when Remni poked her head through.

"Hello," Eti greeted. "Did you have a nice morning walk?"

"It was pretty good, I mainly just watched Jackal and Tanner chase leaves," she said fondly. "Met some trainer on the way back and we made bread, which was nice." She hummed to herself. "Gonna grab my stuff, then head back out again. Gotta get some training in. You coming?" she asked, trying to be polite but half-hoping the girl would refuse. The long conversation and meeting with the stranger had drained her, and it would be nice to be alone with her team.

Eti was quiet for one long moment, but she must have seen the reluctance in her posture or maybe she was just not interested, because she replied. "No thanks, I'm good. The bagon I received did pretty well yesterday, and my pokémon aren't particularly antsy. I might see you out there later," she said, still smiling.

Remni held out a fist and they bumped their knuckles together. "Alright, see ya." She grabbed her backpack, slung it over her shoulder then ducked back out through the doorway again. In the open air it was easier to get her arms properly through the straps, and she released Quil and Jackal, the former so she could stretch her wings before being confined to the ground with Victus, and the latter because he was still a bundle of clingy nerves. As predicted, the skarmory cawed at her before launching herself skyward, and Jackal wound closely beside her as they walked.

Since the first time training in the forest Carrow had diverted a steady litany of questions from various members of the team straight into her head, most of which she couldn't answer. They were curious about the trapinch, especially those who hadn't met him yet. They accepted that he was young, and that Remni thought he would be easily overwhelmed. But his attacks were growing stronger, he had grown about a foot in every direction and Quil had made her approval known. So, once they reached a big enough clearing, she released each member of the team one by one, and directed them to form a circle. When Jackal had returned from scoping it out and declaring it fit for use, she released Victus onto Quil's head, where he crowed and coughed a Sandstorm down on them. The skarmory beat her wings harshly to dispel the sand and squawked at him, scolding. He hunkered down after that, but his eyes glittered.

They immediately began firing off questions- growls, hisses deep croons and other noises that were silenced seconds later by Quil's demanding screech splitting the sky. Most of the pokémon settled down under her watchful eye, and Remni suggested they speak in order of where they sat in the circle. Carrow relayed most of the conversation into her own hear, including Asio's inquiry about the taste of local wildlife as well as Nikko's push in why his elder's had threatened him. Quil had puffed up at an implication in the nuances of pokémon communication that Remni did not pick up on, and Tanner quickly cut in.

'_What pokémon does not want to become strong?_' the togekiss had sounded darkly curious. '_To have such a power- to see not one but two magnificent changes and reject them. I cannot understand it._'

'_Young!_' Quil had projected furiously, '_Young and scared and lied to! Not know him!_' the steel/flying-type accused angrily, and very nearly tackled the togekiss from the branch they both perched on. Remni fumbled their pokéballs as Quil leapt off of the branch and returned them both. The two flying-types were notoriously well-adjusted and got on famously. To see them come to blows so quickly made her fingers shake and her heart throb so hard it hurt.

Carrow proved his position as their resident diplomat for the thousandth time, and now entirely facilitated the communication between the newcomer and the team. He was careful to format what was said to ensure '_Maximum information exchange and minimal miscommunication,' _he said. After a few more questions directed at the tree Victus now perched on, carried up by the claydol, Remni released Quil again.

She appeared with a screech, and looked around jerkily.

"You are _not _to fight with any member of the team like that, Quil," Remni told her, fury burning through her words. "Tanner didn't understand, and that's not reason to harm her. She wasn't going to hurt Victus."

The skarmory tilted her head to meet her trainer's eyes, and flattened her wings against her side. She leant back and beat her wings hard, not breaking their shared gaze for a second, and scooped Victus up onto her beak. Even as the skarmory landed and dirt plumed into the air, Remni refused to blink first.

Finally, Quil gave in. She lowered her head enough to be on level with Remni's shoulders and very obviously turned her head to the side. Remni nodded, and turned her back to walk off with Tanner's pokéball tight between her fingers.

'_Please keep an eye on them,_' she said to Carrow.

'_I live to please,_' he drawled back and she paused,

'…_Are you alright?_'

'_I will speak to you about it later,_' he answered, and their connection lowered from a dull buzz into silence. It was better than the abrupt shut-downs he'd given her the day before, but not by much.

She walked through another large clearing and stopped nearby in a smaller one. She rolled Tanner's pokéball back and forth in her hand, before tossing it forward. The togekiss appeared in a flash, wings raised and clawed toes spread. After glancing around for a few seconds, she glided towards the ground, and hobbled over to her trainer.

Accusations, demands and concerns all bubbled up to her lips. But she refused to give them voice and plopped onto the ground. Tanner tilted her head to the side, and waddled forward, then leant down, pressing her belly to the ground and laying her stout head in her trainer's lap.

"What's wrong, Tanner?" Remni asked softly, and stroked through the downy feathers on the back of the togekiss' neck. The bird was huge enough that her head covered her trainer's whole lap, but wasn't as rounded as Jackal, so the top of it only reached her ribs rather than her shoulders. A soft croon, much like Jackal's for obvious reasons, began to build in her thin-boned ribs as the experienced fingers carded through her feathers. She shuffled her wings, then spread them slowly over the grass and dirt. Remni's breath caught so quickly her ribs ached. There was a very good reason that flying-types always kept their feet beneath them, and reacted harshly when their wings were pinned. Laying like this was a very obvious surrender.

Tanner looked up at her human, craning her neck, and Remni immediately slid her hands under the togekiss' chest to hold her up. She dug her claws into the earth and forced her body back down.

"…You don't have to do this. You don't have to apologise to me, Tan. I know this is strange for you, and…and I guess Quil becoming attached so quickly to another pokémon when you weren't there is hard?" Remni sad, trailing from an explanation to a question. Tanner blinked once, slowly.

"I'm sorry, I didn't expect her to imprint- she's never shown any maternal instincts." When the time came that flying-types sung from sun-up to sunset and danced over the mountains near Solaceon, Quil had normally sunbathed in an empty paddock, or hunted in the forest with Tanner. "I can talk to her, if you want?"

Tanner hesitated for so long, her warm, soft body stiff like the wired pokédolls the underground explorers in Sinnoh used to decorate their bases. She was still for such a long moment, it was easy for Remni to cup her cheek and rub her thumb against the feathers around her tiny ears, and said. "I'll talk to her."

The togekiss chirruped, then swept her wings up and hopped to her feet. With her standing, and Remni sitting, the normal/fairy-type towered about a head and a bit over her. She chirruped again, and leant down to rest her head on Remni's shoulder, before shuffling her wings to rid them of dirt and tucking them more tightly.

Remni leant her head lightly against her pokémon's, and brought up her hand to rub along the togekiss' short, thick neck. "Don't worry so much. I know this is strange, but we'll find out what's wrong with the dragons here, if we have to ask every one we meet, or another trainer figures it out or the Slateport scientists have a breakthrough."

Tanner snorted loudly, blowing up her trainer's long hair into a cloud. Remni couldn't tell if it was derisive, angry or even exasperated. Years with her pokémon taught her how to read their movements, but the tiny nuances of meaning and communication had always required Carrow's help. But this was not too bad.

"It'll be fine," she murmured again. "But tell me any time you have a problem. Come on, let's go back and see what trouble your sister's causing," she said. She reluctantly leaned back out of Tanner's embrace. The togekiss' crooned again, and flapped her wings. She leapt into the air and snatched her trainer up in her claws. It was only with familiarity and practice that they took to the air without scratches, and the scars on the trainer's upper arms were testament to that.

Remni had only walked a few minutes away, but Tanner was happy looping in the air, occasionally tossing her human and catching her, so she didn't begrudge the togekiss' the extra time. They'd get there when they got there.

When they got back to the clearing, her thin blue hair was tangled around a few small twigs in a mess she didn't want to think about, and Victus cowered as Jackal snapped his jaws.

Startled, Remni ran toward them.

'_He is angry that the trapinch can tell us nothing. Do not fret,_' Carrow chided as she skidded to a stop at the edge of the group.

"He's a kid," she hissed at the luxray, who flattened his ears against his skull in response.

Quil was tall, but the length and width of her only served to emphasize how small Victus was as he tucked himself into a ball on top of her beak. He closed his eyes when she looked at him, and opened them slowly.

She raised her voice to address the entire group, and Tanner landed beside Quil. The skarmory looked tense, but leant down to run the side of her beak against the togekiss' body. Tanner fluffed her feathers proudly, and crooned loud enough for even Victus to hear and be soothed, "I get that you're upset- I am too," Remni began. "You want to know what's going on, why something unnatural is happening. _That's fine_. But you can't take it out on Victus. Even if he did know what was going on- which he doesn't, he's young and does _not _deserve your anger. He is a child that we have taken responsibility for, and we are going to treat him properly, as a team, aren't we?" she asked, and fisted a hand in Jackal's mane warningly. Under normal circumstances, without the excess energy running rampant, without the feline mating instincts overruling his decision-making he would be more responsible. More likely to argue with Tanner, or chase leaves and feel the wind, yes, but in his own head he was mature. Like this, he was like an adolescent again, and she had to treat him like one.

She sat back down, and he flopped against her. Tanner stayed on her clawed feet, but Quil settled down. Victus got his legs back as the other behemoths of the team sat on the ground, reducing their height.

"We don't know what's happening, or how things are gonna go here," Remni said softly, just loud enough for Quil, the furthest away, to hear. "But we have a commitment. We'll help Victus grow, and when he's grown we'll release him to be wild again. Until then, we're a team. And all of us, including me, are gonna act like it." She took a deep breath. "I haven't been fair to you. I kept you from all interacting with him, I've kept you in your pokéballs for longer and we still don't know what's wrong with the dragons here. I'm sorry, but we're gonna do better. I'll do better."

'_There is nothing wrong with an adjustment period,_' Carrow spoke up after a pregnant pause. "_We have all made mistakes in a new place, and I hold none of it against any of you._"

The two birds crooned with varying degrees of volume, and the rest of the team made similar noises. Carrow nodded, an awkward bobbing motion that he had picked up from Tanner and Quil years ago. When the two sisters saw him nodding, they eagerly copied it back at him and cawed.

After that, things went relatively smoothly. For the most part, she was left out of the conversation- anything particularly important was relayed through Carrow, but the rest of the conversation was not in English, and without any context or other bodily movements it was near impossible to tell what they were talking about. But it wasn't about her- it was about the team getting to know the newest member, and Victus learning not to fear them, so she wasn't bothered.

As time passed the conversation began to wind down. Jackal wandered off into the underbrush, with strict instructions to be hyper-aware and call out if there was trouble. Tanner left soon after to play in the leaves overhead. Next came Nikko, who demanded out of the heat and into his pokéball.

Quil was shuffling her wings and stretching her legs- preparing to take Victus part way up the mountain to practice more. Remni called out to get her attention, then waved the skarmory over.

"Today's a break day," she explained when Quil waddled over and lowered her head to meet her trainer's eyes. "We've only been here a little while, we trained yesterday and the day before, so I think it would be good to have a break. We could do team bonding or something?" she asked, a little nervously. Quil huffed, blowing her hair out in the same way the skarmory's sister had earlier. Her trainer rolled her eyes and reached over to rub her palm against Quil's beak.

The skarmory crooned softy, a sound like an empty can rattling on a railway line, and looked up very obviously at where Victus was perched on her beak. The tiny trapinch was looking at the mountains behind them and his feet kept coming up and down like a shinx kitten ready to pounce. If Quil, her trainer and the forest around them were silent, they'd be able to hear the soft growling sounds he was making.

Remni sighed, recognising the excited intent, and leant forward to press a light kiss to the smooth, cool steel of Quil's beak. "If you're happy with that," she said.

Quil crooned again, and ran her beak down her trainer's cheek, careful to keep it angled on to the smooth side. She hopped a few steps back, and beat her wings harshly, and bore upwards out of the clearing and through the tree tops.

Asio walked over to her and nudged her shoulder with her wet nose making her jump. The fur on the stantler's shoulder was now matted with leaves and dirt, and Remni spent a few minutes combing it free with her fingers before Asio snorted impatiently. The normal-type leaned forward, mouth open, and grabbed her trainer by the clothes on her shoulder and yanked her into the air, then tossed her onto her own back. Remni squealed in md-air, and clutched at Asio's antlers as she settled, and Asio chuffed.

"Asio!" she scolded, still breathing harshly. "You know I hate that!"

The stantler just whickered softly, which was possibly a complaint about her trainer being slow, exasperated fondness or calm disagreeance. Remni debated each one before shrugging it off mentally. Either way it didn't matter, and she quickly began to canter away into the trees. Remni leant forward to watch her hooves sink into the sparse grass and dirt, but was forced to jerk back when a low hanging branch swiped her arm. She ran her fingers over the red welts, then ignored the dull pain when her hand came away bloodless. Remni leaned forward and clutched at the stantler's neck. Asio began to pick up the pace, and she squeezed her knees around the stantler to urge her on. The trees whipped away around them, blurring the forest into a grey, green and brown tapestry, and Remni hunkered down as the wind pushed at her and leaves swiped at the both of them. Asio bellowed triumphantly and slammed her hooves against the ground, the thunderous beats mixing with the rushing wind to drown out all other sounds of the forest. Her antlers sliced through low hanging leaves, leaving a shredded trail behind them as well as down the back of Remni's shirt.

After a few minutes Tanner spiralled down from the trees and began to chase them. The mock-hunt lasting well over half an hour before she darted around a tree, headed them off at a turn and tackled both trainer and stantler into a bush. While the leaves weren't the softest, it was luckily without thorns and it didn't hurt as much. After falling, Asio realised the scratch-worthy qualities of the leaves, and stayed on the ground to rub herself against them. Remni laughed breathlessly as she squirmed free of the leaves and got to her feet. She stepped out of the tangle of flattened bush to give Asio room to roll when a sharp chime sounded from her wrist. She tapped at it until the screen unlocked, and opened the '_New Message!_'

_To: Remni_

_From: Lumine_

_Re: what even the fuck_

_The entire north-western mountain range has been declared unstable and all non-official business has been banned. Resko, Raune and I are heading back to Fallarbour Town to rest and restock supplies. If we are lucky, and the weather permits, we will hopefully meet you there. Raune has disappointing news for you, but I'm sure he will be glad to see you._

_Lumine._

Attached was a picture of two young men against a background of wheat-coloured stone. One had the biggest shit-eating grin Remni had seen since she was last home, short blue hair that stuck out in all directions and tan skin. He was dressed in worn hiking clothes, and a pole wrapped around the wrist of an arm thrown across the other guy's shoulders, and made a peace sign with that same hand. The other clutched the strap of his backpack, which dangled at his side. The other guy had been photographed halfway through rolling his eyes, which would look terrifying if she didn't see the same look on half the faces of people in the same picture as Raune. He had dark brown, almond-shaped eyes and wavy blonde hair with dark roots. They were flecked with dust and dirt from head to toe. She tapped the photo once and a small tag came up in a tiny box 'foundhim!.jpg'. She was so startled she coughed a laugh, then kept laughing the more she'd thought about it.

Asio lifted her head from where she'd been rollicking in the grass, and whickered questioningly.

Still chuckling, Remni answered, "Raune, that little shit, tracked down literally the one friend he has outside of Sinnoh _just _so he wouldn't have to travel with us."

Asio snorted, and rolled to her feet. Tanner landed on the stantler's back with a squawk, and twisted her neck around to stare backwards over her own shoulder.

Instantly on edge, Remni trotted over to them. "What's wrong?" she asked.

Before the togekiss could even begin their game of charades, a roar tore through the air and a dull flash of second-hand pain split the back of Remni's skull. Her knees sagged and she clutched her head in pain. Asio bellowed, startled, and trotted forward to tuck herself around her trainer.

Warm, soft psychic energy drew across her senses like a sheet, dulling not just the pain but every nerve. Her fingers felt thick and slow against her skull, and she could not feel the pressure or the touch of her hair against them. The psychic-type had thrown the soothing energy over her literally as a blanket solution- as he blocked the pain he blocked all other sensory input.

'_What's going on?_' she demanded mentally, slowly dropping her hands as the pain receded without threat of returning. She grabbed at each of the mental links between her and her pokémon, but none of them reverberated with the pain that had shattered her moments ago. Carrow remained silent and her heart shuddered. Her lungs felt heavy and empty in her chest, and her sternum ached. She rubbed a hand against it fruitlessly, '_Who's hurt?!_' she demanded, throwing her words down Carrow's link.

Suddenly, a pool of translucent pink energy appeared at her feet. Tendrils reached out and wrapped around her, increasing in number and breadth until a vortex of psychic energy encased her body. Recognising the warmth as distinctly Carrow, she fumbled for Asio and Tanner's pokéballs, and returned them before the energy whisked her away with a soft popping noise.

She flashed back into existence somewhere else in the same forest. Flashes of tall trees and sparse grass intermingled with crushing bouts of pain in her mind's eye, but there wasn't time to shake it off. Loud snarling and roaring filled the clearing, and she looked up from wet eyes to see a mess of black, blue and red rolling through the clearing.

'_Jackal. And a houndoom,_' Carrow finally spoke up. His words rolled gently through her skull, and with it a soft touch that smoothed away the exploding headaches, '_Apologies for the rough transfer. We are low on time. It is smart and very strong- almost definitely trained. Jackal can hold his own but not forever. The houndoom's dark energy is preventing me from getting involved._'

Remni nodded, and finally blinked away the blurriness in her vision. Thunder lit the entire clearing blindingly for several seconds, but Carrow had shielded them at the last minute. When it cleared, an unsteady, slightly smoking luxray was limping backwards towards her, not taking his eyes off a huge houndoom who stood eerily still only feet away. It barely even breathed as it watched them, not the slightest shudder in its muscular torso to suggest that it was alive. Unnerved, Remni clumsily reached for Carrow mentally, '_Can you scan i-_' a sharp burst of neural feedback resounded down their link, and she fell to her knees and clutched her head. _Fuck! _It hurt! Immediately, a firm psychic touch fell on her shoulder, and another grabbed her under the armpit of the opposite side. Carrow lifted her to her feet as the starburst of pain died down.

'_Fucking idiot moron!_' she cursed to herself mentally, knowing that she was projecting loud enough to catch her psychic's attention, but not caring that he knew. During teleportation, psychic links became fuzzy like a frayed wired. And grabbing for them soon after like a clumsy child would only shock you. The sudden teleportation had thrown her- she'd forgotten.

By the time she'd shook the second bout of pain off, Remni forcibly put Carrow's steady litany of concern and Jackal's confused interest in the houndoom on the backburner. The dark/fire-type continued to watch them, its head moved like a security camera fixed to a wall. A grey black aura blurred the edges of its body into the surrounding air, which Carrow immediately linked to the way it appeared not to breathe.

Its jaws finally cracked open, a swift sudden movement, and orange embers began to lick at its teeth. Carrow's slow rotations stilled suddenly, and an autonomic wave of psychic-energy displaced the grass in a line straight at the houndoom. It passed over the pokémon harmlessly, barely displacing a single short hair on its back. Everyone in the clearing knew this, but Carrow couldn't hold back his reflexes. Jackal lifted his lips and snarled. The sound was harsh, breathy from exhaustion and distorted from where his incisors jutted out harshly. They were sharp and prominent, presumably from a Fang attack that he'd used before they entered the clearing.

The flames grew into a fireball, and shot towards Jackal, who threw a Thunderbolt right at its core. It exploded and rained embers onto the ground, with Carrow psychically brushing aside any that came near. They quickly burned out.

"It's not dark fire…" Remni muttered to herself. The short grass had wilted where the fire touched it- but it hadn't darkened or turned into brown sludge,

'_So?_' Carrow demanded mentally, while he physically clicked his beaks. Even without the molten heat warming the back of her head she could tell from the otherwise stiff posture that he was pissed.

"So there's no poison in it," she answered. "So it either was or is trained- and it's not trying to permanently damage Jackal." The thoughts came slowly but steadily, and hit her lips as soon as they came up. It was surprisingly calm considering the other half of her brain was an endless screeching wall of frazzled noise. She hoped Carrow wasn't seeing that.

'_Why do you think I didn't understand what you were getting at the first time?_' he grumbled, and her racing thoughts paused.

"Oh boy. You're still hearing that?" She asked, waving a mental hand over the mess of anxious babble that underlay her thoughts. It tended to grow louder in moments like this, but with practice she could take a mental step away and just…look at it. Her fingers swept through it like she'd brushed them against the surface of a waterfall. Fear bubbled up and pushed back against her fingers, and she violently jerked out of her thoughts. Jackal had stepped on her foot.

"You know I can drift off and still know what's going on, right?" she asked him, but petted her shaking fingers through his mane anyway. She let her eyes refocus on the houndoom. It had stopped its approach, still about half the clearing away, and had switched its gaze to Remni. With those deep, dark brown eyes glaring her down, she suddenly felt very small. The sheer power blew through the houndoom's body, its muscles bulged visibly through the shortness of its fur and its tense posture. The thin stream of light that came though the canopy overhead glistened on its wet fangs and long curving horns.

In her mind's eye she saw it run towards her. Its powerful legs raced in sync, and it crossed the clearing in seconds. Carrow can't move it, not for lack of trying, and with the build-up in momentum of the larger pokémon, Jackal could not stop it. It skidded to a stop in front of her before she could even breathe, and dipped its head. The sharp tips of those wickedly curved horns glinted in the sunlight before they slashed backwards; a clean slice scoring her horizontally across her abdomen. The skin on her hands felt faintly wet, and visions of organs drooping from her skin into her hands faded slowly back into reality. Her clothes were unbroken and there was no blood to be seen. She shuddered, a whole body movement, and shook the thought from her head. The sudden jerky movement caused the luxray to break eye contact with his aggressor and turn to her. Her hands were normal, mostly dry and vaguely dirty from sitting down with Tanner. A phantom ache ghosted along the surface of her stomach, but faded with the images. Across from them, the houndoom was silent and still several metres away, but no longer looking at her.

"What does it want?" she asked Jackal, who snorted. He looked back to her and caught her eyes, then nodded his head jerkily. It was a proud, demanding gesture that he'd picked up from Carrow after _he_ picked it up from Quil and Tanner in the early days, one that the birds had picked up from their father, which he'd gained through the flock he'd run wild with. In birds, it caused their beaks to flash light, and combined the sharp movement it was effectively attention-catching, for hunting, communicating or fighting. On Jackal, it was just a mess of tossed fur and glinting eyes, but it got the point across. Charge built up in his mane. This time it was far quicker than the violent Discharges he'd unleashed in the woods against the mightyena, but longer than the bursting ThunderShock he'd used to shatter the houndoom's last attack. It glowed and the glow rippled through the air. Remni watched the houndoom raise itself onto its toes, but didn't move in time and the Thunderbolt hit it dead in the chest. It roared as it was knocked back a few feet. It gained ground again quickly, and ran at the luxray. Carrow jerked his trainer to the side as they barrelled towards each other- almost-equal sized masses of fur and muscle.

When they clashed together they hit _hard_. The houndoom used its horns to increase its Headbutting strength, and Jackal's huge paws and claws came down hard on his opponent's body. But once they stood up, neither opened their mouths to do more than breathe and growl.

"I don't…what?" Remni stumbled through her words and dropped her hand back to her side. '_What?_'

'_It is not aggressive._'

"Jackal was pissed!"

'_The houndoom hit him harder than he expected. I am sorry to have startled you earlier, it seems there is no problem here._'

"I can't believe this."

The houndoom leapt back a step, out of Jackal's paw's reach, and drove forward his its head down. The horns dug roughly into Jackal's side and flipped the luxray over. Instead of twisting around mid-air and lunging right back, he rolled to the ground and stayed there. The houndoom paced over, and put one huge paw on his chest.

"What the fuck."

'_Your family breeds pokémon, Remni. This cannot be so strange to you._' Now she could see that the anger had faded. Amusement coloured his 'voice'.

"This got weird real fucking fast." Her nerves were frayed and all the leftover energy bubbled up into a babble of words. She rarely swore like that.

Jackal purred, loud enough for the both of them to hear across the clearing, and Remni walked slowly over. The houndoom's hackles rose all at once, and with one last snap of its jaws in Jackal's general direction, it jerked away and peeled off into the woods. Jackal looked after it with wide, interested eyes, and Remni nudged his flank with her foot. "Oi. If you two flirt a little less aggressively and save us the brush with cardiac arrest, you can stay out as late as you want."

The luxray twisted and leapt to his feet in a swift, singular motion, and rubbed the length of his body against her side. He hadn't stopped purring since the houndoom knocked him down.

"You're grounded later," Remni grumbled, and inspected the scrapes and missing fur on his shoulders. Carrow's laughter echoed down their still-tender link, and warmed her heart.

After that she let Tanner and Asio back out, made sure they knew to be careful and all her _immediately _if anything happened. "I'm not kidding! Literally the second something happens! I need to know!" and asked Carrow to Teleport her back to camp. He himself was offered free reign, but declined and returned to rest. Remni cleaned up a little and ate some dried fruit, jerky and a bit more of the bread he and Keith had made. The dried stuff kept just as well and as long enough inside the backpack's storage system as a plate of roast meat, but some habits die hard. Eventually, when picking at her links to her team brought little more than frustration and exasperation, she draped her sleeping bag over her body and dozed lightly.

The afternoon and early evening passed without incident. Eti came and went, murmuring under her breath, and even Risa and Alexei poked their heads in once or twice. Overall, the camp felt relaxed. Most people milled about or trained or both. The sun was hot on the fabric of the tents, and the heat radiated through to warm them enough that around 3pm most of the trainer background noise lulled into the soft, quiet sounds of a napping humans and pokémon. The trees rustled occasionally as a burst of wind blew through, but most of the breezes died before reaching the camp.

At around six-ish, still riding the lazy-eyed warmth of a good nap, Remni left the campsite to return to the woods. She called her team to her, and delighted in the way their huge mental presences paused, and tracked their way back to her. Tanner exploded through the leaves with good-natured squawking. Quil and Victus were next, and the skarmory even let her ward touch the ground. Remni knelt down and rubbed a hand over his smooth body, removing any wedged leaves or sticks, and spoke softly to him until Asio stepped through the trees, Carrow appeared in a burst of pink light and Jackal paced in from behind her. They ate, hunted, and Victus showed off a bursting Sandstorm that knocked a squawking tailow off of high a branch. He'd needed Quil's elevation to reach, but the force of the attack over the distance, and the fact that the bird turned tail after gauging its opponent made Remni grin, and Quil caw in raucous pride.

Even Tanner had paused, alighting on the same branch and skritching at the leftover sand- all of which he'd produced himself. She turned her head finally, and crooned at the tiny trapinch, who shut his jaws from an emotion she couldn't place at that distance, and hunkered down. Quil had crooned back, just as quietly, then held her sister's gaze for several long moments. Remni watched the entire exchange with a grin, until Jackal head-butted her between the shoulder blades for being slow. She turned on him with a growl, and he had leapt away with teasing nip. He'd circled her as she walked forward, out of sight and as silent as he could with the dried grass taking up a fair portion of the ground. The houndoom's presence, or something else she hadn't seen, seemed to have finally chased away the end of his season. They began to walk aimlessly. Quil and Tanner chased each other overhead, teaching Victus to hold on for dear life until they'd cut him some slack and dropped him into Remni's arms. He was becoming a heavy, dense little ground-type, and she had to re-arrange her hold every few minutes, but it made the sisters happier.

"Hey, Wildcat," she called to him. He had kept pace with her, but sidled away far enough that in the half-light of dusk she could only see his silhouette. When she called, he turned glowing red eyes on her, and smiled a shiny yellow-white grin. "Love you. But you're still grounded tomorrow." She laughed.

He stopped, and took a step towards her. His nose pointed into the open space and light of the path she'd picked out, and he yowled softly. Asio, who had been walking further ahead, paused and looked back at them, then whickered softly. Remni shrugged at her, then walked to Jackal. He lifted a dust-streaked front paw, and put it against her belly. Laughing again, Remni folded her own hand over his, and leaned in to rub their cheeks together. His purring built rapidly in his chest until it was all she could hear, and she rubbed the other side of his jaw with her free hand, then backed out of the embrace. "Go on, then," she called, and waved her hands in dismissal. "Run wild, have fun."

He leapt directly into the clearing, muscles bunching and stretching beneath his coat as he landed, launching dirt and fallen leaves into the air around them. He walked towards her and curved around, moving towards the opposite side of the path. She patted his shoulder as he went, and he flicked his tail. The star-tipped end curled, so she could tell it was a happy-flick and not an agitated one. She watched him leapt again, this time crashing through the leaves and landing in the shade. He didn't look back as he tore off into the undergrowth.

'_Three kelpsy berries says he's looking for the houndoom,_' Carrow spoke up from gods-know-where, and Remni bit her lip thoughtfully. He'd been favourable to the strange dark/fire-type's presence before, but was out of season now. In the past he'd rebuked their touches on the days after, but he'd already had her close, and the houndoom was a wild card anyway.

She watched the bright yellow of his tail until it vanished. Oh well. Life's short. '_You're on._' She'd have to check later if she even _had _those berries, but presumably Carrow knew. He'd also probably gone through her bag, and that's why he was asking. She made a mental note to change the digital lock, over his own mental proclamations of innocence.

A hundred or so metres later, and Asio crowded towards her. Carrow was stilled delivering a disjointed stream of thoughts and theories on Victus' strange reluctance, but they were growing quiet as they moved further apart. Tanner had also taken off; her gorgeous snowy plumage had been missing from her peripheral vision for a good while. Quil was still moseying along overhead. Her sharp eyes never leaving the small group beneath her.

The sky was darkening rapidly when they eventually arrived at another clearing, and Remni shrugged off her backpack to get at one of the half-empty water bottles and a sturdy torch that were tucked inside it. Asio sidled past her to nose at the ground, and returns with a clover stuck to her nose. She snorts, once then a second time and it's only on the repeat that Remni notices, laughs, and reaches up to brush it off with a fingertip.

"That's really cute." An amused, unknown voice carried over to them. Remni nearly dropped the water in surprise, and spun around. On the opposite side of the clearing was another person, in faded jeans, a thick fur-lined coat and a white singlet. Next to them stood a huge green pokémon with a long tail like a leafy tree branch. As the stranger walked a few feet away from the forest's edge, the pokémon followed in a very strange way. It leaned forward on its slender forearms, threw its sturdy back legs forward and planted them beside its forelegs. It then bunched its muscles and stretched forward with its forelegs again. It was a kind of bouncing, rollicking movement that even Asio cocked her head at. The pokémon stopped when its trainer did, and rolled upwards onto its hind legs, standing much taller than the young adult beside it. It had several horizontal crimson red streaks across its front, like gore splattered from a kill. But the red was too even and too clean, and it took Remni a few seconds to realise that it wasn't neat blood stains, but patterned with a distinctive red mark. The only other pokémon of the same species that she'd seen like it had been shorter, more muscular and he had belonged to her cousin, but Max didn't have any red markings on him. The yellow bells down its spine clearly gave it away as a sceptile, and indeed without the red it was identical to one that she was well-acquainted with. Asio snorted loudly, and stomped her front feet, and Remni called the stantler back over to her.

The stranger was closer now, only half a dozen metres away, and at this distance Remni could see them squinting at her, and leaning back on their heels with their hands tucked into the pockets of that huge overcoat.

"Uhh." She'd already forgotten what the stranger had walked in on. "Thanks? Who are you?" she asked.

"Just another girl from Johto," the stranger said idly, then straightened up. "Okay that was…I was trying to sound cool but that just sounds dumb. I'm Tamora." She gestured to the sceptile and said, "This is Chilli. She and I were on the train that broke down nearby. I've seen you around the campsite so I'm reasonably sure you were on it too." She smiled at Remni.

'_Uh…_' "Yes?" Remni answered, the word getting uncomfortably high pitched at the end. She coughed and tried again. "Yeah I am, what're you…doing out here?" she asked, her voice wavering. The huge grass-type had stopped loping forward, but now that it stood on its hind legs she could fully see how tall it was. Its eyes were the same off-putting red as the markings on its belly, and they were narrowed at it.

"Cool. Listen, I'd love to hang around and chatter for a bit but I've already ruined my first impression and to be honest Chilli's a little skittish right now." She spoke loudly but her words were sort of-mashed together. 'Right now' came out more like 'ruh-nuh', even though it was still obvious enough that Remni could still figure it out at this distance. "…So I'll get to the point. Have you seen a-"

Suddenly the darkened clearing exploded with lightning. It went off like a flash bomb at the edge of the forest to her right, and a huge blue-black shape was hurled into the clearing, back first and right between the two girls. It rolled along the ground a few times before gaining its feet, but stayed in a low crouch. It snarled loudly, and as soon as it shook off some of the dirt and charred fur and opened its eyes Remni recognised it. "Jackal!" she shouted in surprise. Her heart stopped, then stuttered as one of his ankles gave and he was forced to re-adjust his stance.

He barely spared her a look before he stepped one forepaw in front of the other, and began charging electricity around his mane. Something else leapt into the clearing over the boundary and landed with a thump. It was huge easily taller than Jackal but not nearly as long. It was bright yellow and neon blue, with long white fangs and claws. Across from her, Tamora gaped at the new arrival.

Remni looked rapidly between the two pokémon, noting that both looked unmarked and full of energy- this hadn't been an ongoing battle. Right on cue, Carrow's voice crashed through her head, '_Jackal has been hit by a powerful electric-type move,_' he announced. The luxray released the bolt of electricity, which clashed with his opponent's own thunderbolt. The newcomer had released its attack moments before Jackal's, so the clash of energy occurred much closer to the luxray. Both Remni and Tamora backed away from the shower of sparks.

'_I know! He's here!_' she replied, '_Kinda busy right now!_' Her mind raced with thoughts- how should she help him? Recall him? The pokémon, which was almost definitely a very large manectric, hadn't tried to attack her yet so it probably wasn't running wild. The two electric-type attacks exploded in a shower of sparks. The two pokémon went back to snarling. While Remni debated, the other girl took action.

"Wha- Salur! Cut it out and get over here!" she yelled, her words starting off startled before becoming firm. The manectric snapped its jaws shut so quickly Remni could hear the loud snap even a dozen metres away. It looked between her and her luxray several times, before lowering its head and loping over to the girl.

Remni shook herself and ran over to Jackal. At a foot away she dropped to her knees, checked his heartbeat and asked, "Jack, hey, Jackal, you okay?" He didn't take his eyes off the manectric even as it ignored him, but leant his head over to rub their cheeks together. A very gravelly purr built up in his lungs, the vibrations of which moved through both her palms and her cheek. After a few moments of beat-counting, she decided his heartbeat had increased, but not dangerously.

"Gods, what have I told you about taking hits like that to the chest?! That manectric's clearly pretty powerful, and it was a bursting attack which could've messed with your heart!" she whisper-yelled at him, her voice wavering and high-pitched. "You would've had to go to a hospital!" If she were calmer and capable of thinking logically, she'd think that, as a decently experienced electric-type, he was capable of disbursing that energy naturally throughout his body, and probably used his own attacks to soften the blow as it happened. But all she'd seen was her pokémon, who'd been out of her sight for over an hour, get thrown across a clearing in one hit and struggle to get up.

She heard heavy footfalls, and looked up. She didn't need to look to figure it out; Jackal began snarling immediately. Tamora was several metres away, one hand fisted in the mane of the manectric, who stood about a foot or so taller than her, even as he hunched his shoulders.

"I am _so_ sorry!" the other girl called. "Salur's never acted like this before, and I thought she was out with Denri! Is your pokémon okay?" she sounded genuinely distraught, and Remni felt slightly bad about the defensive position she'd taken up in front of her luxray. Slightly.

"He's fine! I…uh… I think we'd both appreciate it if you returned your manectric though," Remni replied. She stroked Jackal's head. His fur had raised with adrenaline and electricity, but smoothed slowly under her broad, gentle strokes. His snarls quickly decreased in volume.

"O-oh! Of course." Tamora shook her silver hair out of her eyes and let go of the manectric, "Salur, _drop_," she growled, and the electric-type hit the floor belly first. Her tongue lolled and her fur laid as flat against her skin as any electric-type could hope to achieve. As her trainer reached into one of the inner pockets of that huge jacket, she lay to the side and flopped her head onto her trainer's foot. It was so similar to the way Jackal had been acting a few days ago that Remni couldn't help but let her guard drop just a bit. The luxray still kept both eyes firmly on the manectric, even after Tamora fished out a pokéball and dropped it her manectric's yellow mane. He vanished in a plume of red energy, and the ball snapped shut and swung back up into her hand. Chilli, who had been hovering near where the two of them had entered, began to lope over. Unnerved by those red, red eyes approaching, Remni took an involuntary step back.

Tamora looked up from tucking away Salur's pokéball just in time to see Remni back up. "Sorry again. I owe you…something in the future, okay?" She waved a hand at Chilli, and the sceptile stopped in its tracks. "For now though- I can tell you something? Maszari used to be a Hoenn Champion. It wasn't until maybe…twenty years ago that he was 'de-throned'." She even made air-quotes around that. "Not many people knew that, thought you might like to." Remni let out a surprised laugh at the several hand gestures while the other girl continued. "Ha, yeah. Anyway, I gotta go. Sorry again." With that, Tamora turned tail and sprinted into the forest, her ponyta-tail of silver hair whipping around behind her. Chilli looked back at Remni for one long moment, cocked its head to the side and trilled, then turned and loped into the woods.

"Honestly?" she asked Jackal rhetorically. "Let's get the hell out of here." She returned him when he refused to get back up, instead rolling in the soft grass, and she leapt up onto Asio's back. The stantler obediently lowered her body closer to the ground, waited until she was settled, then began galloping in the direction she pointed. Asio, of course, had good mental maps and knew the way back, but it made her trainer feel good to remember, so she let her.

When they returned to the campsite, it was already dark. The temperature had dropped but not to an uncomfortably low degree. The campsite was lit up with torches and some small, attended campfires. Remni was surprised to see it was also a hive of activity. Evidently, there was an announcement that she'd missed. Trainers were in and out of their tents, and bags full of various things were spilled open on the ground like sliced fruit. The third carriage from the front was infested with engineers, and the open doors of the first two showed the insides to be neat and clean- totally different to the mess of open panelling and unbolted chairs that had been laying around. She looked around until she spotted a recognisable face, then trotted over to a head of blonde hair and a banette.

"Hey girl," Cassidy greeted warmly, hands busy with a stack of unopened food cans and a small blue backpack. She had a small torch pinned between her cheek and her shoulder as she counted and arranged the cans. Remni hadn't seen either of the three trainers carrying it before, but it had a new-looking label on the side declaring it to be a storage system.

"Hey," Remni replied. "What's with the bag?" she asked.

"Oh, me, Fiona and Wren take turns carrying it 'cause the ring at the top makes it an awkward shape in the bags," the other trainer said, and flipped the top flap of the bag over to run a calloused thumb against the technology in question. "Wren gave it to me, but the lazy bastard reckons he didn't count how many were left. I told him I'd count 'em if he packed up my tent," she explained. She pointed about fifty metres down the train where the redhead was up on his tiptoes unhooking the thinner metal support bars from the top of the fabric part of the tent.

"Huh. Uh, nice?"

"It is."

"Nice, then. So what's going on? Everyone's packing?"

"Yup! Maszari called everyone together about an hour ago. He said everythin's all good to get to Fallarbour, so we're packin' up today, they'll finish the final checks tonight an' we're 'sposed to sleep on board. Even though it 'aint really designed for sleepin'-" she pulled a face, "-but whatever. He wants to leave in the really early mornin', as soon as it's all ready." Cassidy grinned. "Guess we're finally getting' movin'."

Remni grinned back, "Guess we are." And went to pack up her tent.

Her tent was easily collapsible from years of impatience, but the poles and pegs made her nervous, and she recounted them three times before pressing them into Carrow's psychic grip.

'…_I trust your ability to count,_' he had said.

"I don't," she had replied, and flopped down to fold the tent. After that, time seemed to go quickly. Eti helped her wrestle the tent cloth into the bag, Risa slumped across both girl's laps and complained about aching muscles while Alexei methodically took down their tent step-by-step, swearing at each one. Dinner was soon after, and Remni was glad they'd already eaten because she was too spooked by the day's weird events to let her team run wild again.

As people began getting sleepier, they began to pile into the train. Most trainers threw a mattress on the floor, or on top of the seats so they supported both ends and tucked their bags beneath. The four of them went for the former option, while Cassidy, Fiona and Wren went for the latter in a booth three down from them. Grateful for the option of finally getting moving, most of the pokémon settled down with little complaint. She didn't even wake when, as Cassidy said in the really early hours of the morning, the train began to move.

A few hours after the journey began, Maszari stretched in his seat and took a deep gulp of the cold instant coffee in the travel mug one of the engineers had given him. He looked across the various instruments and out the window where Amnestri glided silently on his huge, light wings, "Let me know when you're tired!" he called to the skarmory for the third time since they'd began, jolly even with the late time. It was good to be moving, even at the cost of his sleep. And he'd even have a week or so off once they hit Fallarbour.

Ten or fifteen minutes passed. A low rumbled echoed in the distance, but when he paid attention and strained to hear it he heard nothing. Amnestri didn't react either.

All of a sudden, he heard a low, loud rumbling noise. The train jerked awkwardly, and he began to decelerate it in concern. The rough sounds only got louder, and he only had time to sweep his instruments once when the train groaned, and jerked back and to a halt. It was slowly sliding backwards. He darted to the window where he'd last seen Amnestri, and looked along the length. A huge hole had appeared right in the middle of the ground where the train had travelled as well as under the last carriage. The train was slowly falling in. He yelled in alarm, and reached up and forward to for the alarm when the train lurched again, and threw him harshly against the door. All the air left his lungs, and he could only hang awkwardly hang-out the window, wheezing, as cracks spider webbed along the ground with lightning speed. As more carriages sunk into the gaps, they widened more quickly. A sudden shrill cry resounded in his ears, and he looked forward. Amnestri was back. The skarmory stretched his neck forward, grabbed the door with his beak and wrenched it open. Auronus fell with it- but the skarmory ducked his neck and he sprawled onto it. It was only with practiced familiarity that he wrapped his arms around Annestri's smooth neck and didn't fall. The skarmory leapt back into the sky and he snatched up his messenger bag before he winged backwards. The ground collapsed, and the two of them screamed together as the train vanished into the huge chasm that had opened up.

'_Verazir. Awaken._' The voice snapped through Carrow's nervous system like a bucket of ice water, and he jerked awake within his pokéball. There was no slow awakening- not like when Remni activated the device for a battle, or when he woke himself. It was from a deep sleep to awake-and-ready in two seconds or less. The voice was commanding and powerful, and weighed heavily in his mind. It was like standing before the Oracle, or the first day he was born and felt the world- an imposing sense of vastness and strength.

'_I am Neutronus. I have tapped the minds of all the pokémon on this train with psychic abilities. Release yourselves._'

Unable to resist the order, Carrow reached for the opening mechanism on the pokéball and unwound it. He was pleased to find that, for one reason or another, upon falling asleep Remni had not locked it. He materialised above his trainer and her friends sleeping forms in seconds- and promptly smacked into the ceiling. Orienting himself within the booth, he reached psychically outwards before the voice rang out again.

'_The train is falling. All of you must hold it and slow the decent, or all of the humans and some of the pokémon will die._' It said calmly. Suddenly, the walls around them glowed brightly. Immediately, the powerful downwards force slowed, and Carrow found himself immediately adding his own powers to the mix. The train continued to fall, but was beginning to slow down as it went. An immediate stop would be just as bad as hitting the floor unhindered, but whoever was speaking to them knew this. It manipulated dozens of the separate psychic powers in less than a second- designating them different parts of the train. Carrow's power stayed with his own carriage and the one on each side. Slowly, every psychic slowed the descent.

Somehow none of the humans had woken. The power strain was causing sweat to run in rivulets down Carrow's huge body, and even as he struggled and poured energy into the never-ending rift, he found he had not a spare thought leftover to drop on Remni. Not a single one.

'_If we fail and she dies, she would not know,_' the thought only begins to form in his mind before the energy taken up by it is diverted to easing the pressure on the locks between the fourth and fifth carriages.

The thought is immediately echoed down the line of strained psychics in a jerky start-stop motion, as each in turn realises that concentrating on anything else for even a fraction of a second caused their hold to slip. External stress began to build up against his mental barriers like plaque.

'_Enough._' Neutronus had taken notice, and addressed them once more. "_As a group, there is little here that we cannot accomplish. I am going to release the connections between the carriages to dispense some of the excess strain. Wait a moment._" The psychic type addressing them was powerful enough to coordinate and almost control the movements and power of each separate psychic on the train, as well as communicate simultaneously and hold still every item within the train itself. Carrow had no doubt that it will take less than a moment. His thoughts become clearer and longer already- the locks have been released and each psychic is holding their own carriage. He thinks to wake Remni, but does not.

'_Fifteen seconds until impact._' Neutronus informs them, and by the time Carrow processes this, they have already landed.

It's still a substantially powerful hit. His connection to the outside means that the impact followed the conduit of his energy straight inside him, and it shocked him to his bones. He feels the stress take down several others, while the rest succumb to energy expenditure. It is only Neutronus and one other that do not fall immediately.

'_An excellent job, for sure._' Neutronus praises them, still cool and calm. That single line is that last thing that Carrow hears before the full force of the impact registers and knock him out.

* * *

_Author's Notes: I recently realised that I've been all over the place with regards to Asio's gender in each chapter. She's meant to be a she, but was a he in the planning stages so I get confused at times. Many recent chapters have he/him there. This has since been fixed, but if you're remembering Asio being a he- that's why._

_These next couple of chapters are ones I've been thinking about for a while and am very excited to write and share them with you!_

_Also: I based Chilli's walking 'style' on a kangaroo. Look up 'kangaroo walking' on youtube if you want to see it in action. You can easily find a thirty second or so video showing a simple walk, and Chilli's is basically identical._

_anyway, please review! I love love love reading what people have to say or think about the things I write =3 feel free to message me if you have any questions, especially if you think they might be mistakes! then I can fix them asap =]_

_thanks for reading!_

_3 jackal_

**Team Lists-**

**Remni**\- **Carrow** (claydol), **Jackal** (luxray), **Nikko** (sharpedo), **Quil** (skarmory), **Asio** (stantler), **Tanner** (togekiss).

**Alexei**\- **Wisteria** (staraptor), **Cineraria** (luxray), **Lilium** (roserade), **Lotus** (golduck), (weavile), (hippowdon).

**Eti**\- **Detonate [Nate] **(m) (magnezone), **Ricochet [Ric]** (m) (rampardos), **Deadshot [De]** (m) (lucario), (kricketune), **Backlash [Lassie] **(f)(floatzel), **Emanate [Em] **(f)(alakazam).

**Risa**\- **Twit** (abomasnow), **Denno** (crobat), **Renna** (rapidash), **Annushka** (gyarados), **Leila **(mismagius), **Tar **(rhyperior).

**Cassidy**\- **Arrow** (banette), (swampert), (shiftry), (masquerain), (aggron), (electabuzz).

**Fiona**\- (kirlia), (sceptile), (altaria), (swalot), (magneton), (armaldo).

**Wren**\- (blaziken), (linoone), (gardevoir), (mightyena), (flygon), (walrein).


	6. Chapter Six

Rough, uproarious snarling echoed around through her head. Black snow fell like rain from the sky and began coating the tiled floor, dozens of cement statues and her own body. It was soft to the touch, but somehow not cold, and barely weighed on her at all. The strange material was as light as a feather. The world felt muted- like standing in the huge open streets of Snowpoint City. Each thud of her feet was muffled as if the ground was thick with fresh snow, but in this place it was just miles of empty tile. Although there was nothing before or behind her, her feet kept moving. In the distance the light glinted off of a vertical length of the same orange tiles that covered the floor. Another huge wall. She looked to her left and right, then spinning around to peer behind her, she saw another three walls; one in each direction.

The strange snow fell more heavily now- the entire ground was covered. It gave the illusion of walking on a void, or in a shallow pond in the night. Suddenly, a loud screech rung out. It lasted for only a second, but it echoed off of the walls loudly and increasingly distorted. Startled, she jerked back away from the noise as it travelled from the front of the room far ahead and back towards her. One hand accidentally brushed the other, dragging through the soft black mess. It smeared on her arm like ash- but the streaks were a wet, crimson red.

Remni screamed.

And woke up.

* * *

In front of her was darkness- just stretches and stretches of darkness. Afterimages of orange light flashed across her vision, and she blinked until they vanished. Her heart pounded in her chest and distress began to clamber up her spine with sharp claws that pricked each sensitive nerve and set her on alert. The dream was rapidly fading as most did- she could only see a few specific moments behind her eyelids. Loud snarling, a long blank, a dark room followed by a stretch of memory loss where she felt there had been something, and then a screech. She rubbed her temples as the memory of the screech caused a headache to build.

She shifted herself back out of the ball she'd curled it to, and immediately winced. Dull pain made itself known over swathes of her skin- the entire length of her back ached, as well as her arms and legs and random spots on her face.

'_What-what the hell happened?!_' she thought to herself, half expecting Carrow to chime in. When he didn't, she frowned, then winced when it pulled on a cut on the inside of her lip: she'd bit her cheek sometime before.

'_Carrow…?_' she asked mentally, attempting to project it into the area around her at the same time as she pawed at his link in the back of her mind. There was no response. It wasn't like when he slept, or when he intentionally shut her out. It was cold and very still- no energy transfer. The last time she'd experienced it, they had all been in a hospital. Her breath started coming more quickly, and she rubbed at an ache in her sternum as her heart started to pick up to match it. Blood rushed in her ears.

'_Carrow? Carrow!_' she called mentally, and began to panic. _Where was he? How did…?_

She snatched up both hands and reached for the wrist of her left. Her pokétch was still clipped on tightly, and when she tapped at the 'On' button, it lit up. The light was an unreasonably jolly yellow colour, and she winced at how bright it was. She flicked a tiny switch on the underside, and the screen flickered and lit up with the 'Loading…' screen for the 'Team List' app. She chewed her lip and gripped the watch tighter, and tried to stem the trembling in her fingers.

"This is not the _time!_" she whisper-yelled as it continued to blink, then finally it displayed the pokémon currently in the watch. Six small icons popped up, one was a 'temporary' member. Her heart started slamming against her ribs, even faster now. The skin on her torso felt stretched, and her shirt tight around her bones. She grabbed at the front of it and pulled it away from her skin, but it didn't ease the tightness in her chest. She tapped each icon to examine them even though she knew each symbol by heart. Carrow was missing.

Suddenly a low growling sound began to echo off of the rocks around them. Remni sucked in a sharp breath, then held it, trying to stay quiet. It slowly grew louder then quieter in waves, so it was hard for her to tell how far away it was. She tapped at the icons, but her hands were shaking too hard. Every time she hit one icon she couldn't hit the confirmation button after, or tapped somewhere else and it went back to the list. She was fully hyperventilating now, and dropped the pokétch to clutching at her aching chest and over pounding heart. Her throat felt dry from the rapid back-and-forth rushes of air, and when she moved her tongue to wet her dry mouth she tasted blood. Her head pounded so hard she couldn't even feel the connections to her team, let alone reach for them. The darkness blurred wetly in her eyes. Distantly, she could realise that she needed to sit straight and breathe, but the darkness was pressing on her like a hand forcing her against the ground. Her skin prickled and the hairs jolted upright. Her throat and back felt vulnerable and bare, and she hunched lower over her crossed legs. The growling grew louder, or closer, or maybe it was all in her head. She curled up in a ball on the rock, and pressed her feverish temples to the cold ground.

Remni couldn't tell how much time passed. Flashes of falling black shapes appeared as after images on her retinas, crimson streaked on her skin. She tried to cling to the feeling of the cool rock beneath her, but it had already begun to heat up from her skin. The shadows around her both encroached and retreated at the same time. Blood rushed in her ears, drowning out all other noises. She panted loudly, and the rush of air in her throat combined with the blood flow in her ears made her head spin. Every thought felt like it had only passed a few seconds ago, but at the same time it felt like it happened days ago.

Something smooth and cylindrical pressed against her upper arm, then coarse, short fur touched her hand. With something new to focus on she grasped for it with both her hand and her mind. Her fingertips dug into the fur, felt blazing skin underneath. Her mind leapt out and gripped every new feature- the short fur, the long snout and the heat. A canine or feline fire-type pokémon, but not a ponyta or rapidash because the area around them was still dark. The smooth pressure increased against her arm, and she struggled to remember significant features, but even that was too much. Something hot and wet touched her clutching palm, then pushed back and forth at it roughly.

Her eyes finally flickered open. Red afterimages still haunted her retinas.

The pokémon standing before her was a huge, hulking canine with dark black fur. Even as it sunk low in its stance and lowered its head to lean on her, it still towered over Remni. It instantly brought to mind the houndoom that had been messing with Jackal a few days back, but in the half light and the lack of familiarity, she couldn't tell for sure. But…

"T-this is a little too convenient to ah…too convenient to be a coincidence, right?" she asked quietly, voice barely above a whisper as she reached out to touch the dark/fire-type's cheek. Her heart continued to pound, and she was still hyperventilating, but the crushing mental noise had begun to die. It slowly became easier to sit up, open her lungs and let the remainder of the panic attack work itself out.

* * *

I bristled as the dark type settled against her, and lifted my arms. A tiny red and orange ember plumed to life on the ground before her. It wasn't much larger than my human's palm. Two more appeared quickly after- one to either side. Another, then another showed up. Soon a ring of red-and-orange embers had appeared in a circle around her. The houndoom backed away then slid onto the floor on its belly, transfixed by the flames. Remni stared into them, only vaguely feeling the five pokéballs fall from her grip, and bounce on the rock around her. Visions came to her mind, unbidden; the houndoom leaping for her, its teeth digging into her throat. Pain lancing down her spine. Each picture overlayed the real one- the houndoom sitting low on the rocky ground, its head slightly titled to the side as it looked at her. As the images played over and over it became harder to tell which scene or which pain was real.

The orange in her vision grew slowly, and she passed out again.

* * *

When she woke up, the room was a pale white. A soft purring rumbled through her head, and when she murmured nonsense, the purring increased in volume and there was movement on the pillow behind her head.

A light blue face with tiny whiskers and yellow eyes stared back. The familiar purring, the tiny head-tilt and the soft face combined and she recognised-

"Jackal?" she asked roughly, and coughed. Her throat was dry and it ached, and she lifted a bandaged hand to rub at it. The scene felt slightly off- but the aches in her knuckles and torso felt familiar, and the pokémon on the pillow was definitely Jackal.

She tried to sit up, and the tiny shinx purred and walked down the pillow to curl up in a ball at her side She stroked her fingertips idly through his half-raised hackles, and listened to him purr.

"What happened?" she asked him softly, furrowing her eyebrows. When he continued to purr, keeping his eyes closed, she sighed and looked around the room. It was…a hospital room. The walls were painted a minty green, and silver metal and white plastic tables littered the room. There was a fabric covered armchair to her right, with several pokéballs in a pile in the direct centre. Her bag sat on the floor next to the chair and was propped against it.

The rest of the room was…blurry. She blinked, but the details refused to come to her.

Suddenly, a shadow flickered across the room. She looked at it, confused, but there was nothing there. Turning around, she saw a window on the left side of the bed. She jerked upright, and while the dull aches and pains coating her body made her wince and whine, the sight of the window. It was all black- as if the sun had set, but there were no stars. The room was unnaturally well lit-lit in warm yellow, but there were no lights in the room. The darkness outside quivered, and dove through the window as if it wasn't there. It swarmed inside, rolling through the room. Remni jerked as I surrounded her, but did not touch her skin. It radiated coolness into the air. She reached out hesitantly to feel it, and something soft in texture but sharply cold brushed over her fingertips. Startled, she yanked it back and-

* * *

"Remni? Remni! Guys, she's over here!"

Remni woke to hands shaking her and came face-to-face with a wet-eyed Eti. The brunette grabbed her around the torso and heaved her into a hug as soon as she opened her eyes. "Oh my gods. Gods. I am glad you're alive," she warbled into Remni's tangled hair. She still hadn't brushed it out properly since she and Asio went running through the woods.

'_Is this one real?_' she thought to herself and blinked rapidly. The memory of black snow, of the hospital room? Were they dreams or hallucinations? Was this another one?

"Eti? Wha-what happened? Are you okay? What's wrong?" she asked slowly. Her head spun.

"Th-the train! It crashed! Risa woke me up a few minutes ago, and Alexei too. We couldn't find you?" Eti's voice jumped between whispering and yelling, and at the end pitched higher into a quivering question.

Remni lifted her hand to stroke her friend's back soothingly, and tried to figure out what had happened. When she'd fallen asleep, the sky had been dark and the train hadn't been moving yet. She tried to slow her breathing again, reached for Carrow's link in her mind and nudged it. But it was silent. Her heartbeat picked up and she scrabbled with her free hand for her pokétch. Victus was still secured in the temporary slot, and three other pokéballs rolled free as they were materialised, and more came out of her jacket pockets when she shook them. Five sat on the ground before her; Carrow's was missing.

"Shi- Eti? Victus is in the watch, but…have you seen Carrow?" she asked in concern.

"You- I don't- What?!" the brunette panted, then looked down at the floor. There were three pokéballs between Remni's legs, one next to her thigh, and two by her outstretched leg. "Rem, there are six pokéballs here, aren't they all yours?" she asked in confusion.

Remni looked down at her legs. Her vision blurred in and out and she blinked furiously to clear her eyes. Sitting up in the dark felt vaguely familiar, but she couldn't remember anything real after being wrapped in blankets on the train, and the soft sounds of Risa, Eti and Alexei as they talked. On the floor, clearly lit by Renna who was standing behind Eti, were six normal pokéballs. The rapidash was glowing softly, but the light was fading.

"Uhhh, I…I guess?" she stuttered out. Remni reached out for the pokéballs, and rolled them towards her. Each one had the warm, heavy weight of an occupied device. In a burst of energy, she scrambled to pick each one up. But all six were enlarged and fell from her grip. Eti was forced to grab her wrists.

"Remni! Remni calm down! What do you need? What can- What do you need me to do?"

"Out," Remni wheezed. "Get them all out. I need to see them."

Eti nodded, and picked up two of the capture devices, and pressed the buttons at the same time. The rock around them lit up in a red glow as Asio and Quil appeared. Quil immediately screeched and looked around wildly, before leaning forward and waddling towards her trainer. Remni croaked out something unintelligible and reached for the metallic bird. Asio trotted the few feet closer to her trainer, and lay down like a fawn with her legs tucked against her sides. Quil crouched low, and lay her head in Remni's palms. She rubbed them along the length of Quil's beak over and over, tears tracking down her cheeks. When Asio leaned into her side, and licked her neck she lay her other hand on the stantler's neck, and rubbed the pads of her fingers into the short, coarse fur.

"Good girl, good girl, my lovely, strong girls," Remni crooned over and over, roughly stroking both of them. "You're here, you're okay, you're okay." She leant her temple against Asio's cheek and breathed in the soft, musky scent of the huge mammalian pokémon.

Three more flashes of light- and Jackal padded over. Without much room to press against his trainer, he merely lay against her back, and purred slowly. He wasn't sure what had happened, but her distress rolled off of her in waves and he had learned the best way to react from past experience.

Tanner winged her way over as well, and alighted on the ground beside Quil. The two sisters shared a look, and the snowy bird leaned up on her claws to nuzzle at the smaller steel plates over the skarmory's shoulders. Quil hesitated for a long moment, long enough for even Remni to look up and out of her distress.

"Q-Quil, be n-nice to Tanner. You've been-_hic_-ignoring her for-for Victus," she scolded, her voice stuttering with her breath. Her fingers clenched on Quil's jaw and in Asio's fur, then she pushed the metallic bird's face towards Tanner's.

Quil tilted her head on the side, then chirruped. She leant over, and rubbed the bottom of her jaw on the top of the togekiss' head with another croon. The affectionate sight brought a fresh bout of tears to her trainer's eyes. Remni drew her own hands back and swiped at the growing wetness.

A rough gnashing sound snapped her out of it, and she craned her neck to look past Tanner. Nikko was floating in a small puddle made out of a depression in the ground, and was chewing at the rock in front of him to extend it. She trembled to her knees, then her feet, and rubbed Asio and Jackal's shoulders once more before stumbling over to the sharpedo. Tanner and Quil had settled down to slowly preen each other, and shuffled over to let their trainer walk past. They both crooned at her and nipped at her sleeve as she went. Even the few foot walk was long enough to regain her footing, but her knees still cracked when she knelt down at the edge of the water. Nikko raised his head out of the surface to rest his jaw on the land, and she rubbed at his rough skin with her nails. "He-hey there, good boy…You okay?" she asked, and her fingers trembled on his skin. Now that the adrenaline had started to die down, the temperature of wherever-they-were was starting to set in. All the hairs on her arms stood on end.

Nikko clicked his teeth twice, then let his jaws hang ajar and his eyes fell half-lidded as her fingernails scratched at him. "Doooooooo…" He leaned his entire body to the side- the sharpedo version of Tanner and Quil's head-tilt, so Remni guessed that he was fine.

Out of the gloom behind Eti floated a large, bulky pokémon. Carrow eased passed both the female trainer and the rest of the team where they sat on the ground. He hovered lower to the ground as he neared, and reached out a hand. Warmth bloomed in her chest, and she reached out to lay her hand on top of his. Her eyes stung and began to water again.

"See?" Eti spoke up softly, having stayed quiet while Remni reunited with her team. "All here." Metronome trilled from where he stood beside his trainer, and rubbed his spindly forearms together to make a quiet ringing sound. Eti took a slow step forward, then paused when Jackal flattened his ears and hissed. Quil shrieked.

Remni pressed a shaky kiss to the top of Nikko's head partly revelling in the rough pain of his scales digging in as it helped wake her up, then jumped unsteadily to her feet. "It's alright! Jackal, Quil. Calm down," she said without looking. Her left leg ached and tingled with pins and needles, and she shook it out. She looked at Eti and gestured to the pile of pokéballs on the floor. "Can you help me pick them up?" Remni stooped down and came back up with three of them. These belonged to Quil, Tanner and Nikko. "You three wanna come back in? Until we figure out what's going on?"

Nikko blew bubbles furiously for several seconds while Quil cawed an affirmation. "Sharrrrrrr…" he growled, but squirmed up onto the ground to snap his teeth in the direction of her hands. She recalled both of them. Tanner flattened her wings and squawked shrilly when her trainer pointed her own pokéball in her direction, so she shrugged and tucked it away.

Eti held out three more pokéballs, and Jackal leapt to his feet with a snarl.

"Jackal! No!" Remni yelped as the huge feline took a step towards Eti. She rushed at him unsteadily, and half-tripped before diving her hands into his mane. He jerked in her grip, but didn't pull away. "Eti, hang on a sec. Jackal, if you can't calm down _right now_ you're going back in your ball!" she whisper-yelled at him, her heart still slamming harshly against her ribs.

He looked between her and Eti with his wide amber eyes and blown pupils, then growled again. Remni held him firmly. His skin radiated heat but the ends of his fur were cold from the ground.

She rubbed the pads of her fingers against his skin to calm herself down, and asked, "What's wrong Jackal? What's the matter?"

He finally looked back at her, and didn't shift his gaze again. He sat back heavily on his haunches, and she went with him, to keep her hands anchored in his mane. She half-crouched in front of him and sighed. He breathed out deeply as well, mimicking her. She dragged one hand up to scratch the corner of his jaw until he started to purr.

"Alright, just…. alright. Leave Eti be." Remni stood up. "Sorry about all that Eti, maybe hand me those?" she asked, gesturing at the three in the brunette's hands. Her friend nodded and handed them over.

"It's okay. Everyone's on edge," Eti reassured her. "Listen, choose who you want in or out, we'll go back to the others and figure out what's happened," she said.

Remni nodded. "Okay, just a sec." She examined the three in her hands- the left one was Carrow's, the middle one belonged to Asio and the remaining one was Jackal's. She rubbed her thumb over Jackal's, before finally putting it away. "Asio?" she asked. "Wanna swap in now and come out later? I don't think there should be too many of us wandering around. You too, Carrow?" she explained, addressing both the folded-up stantler and unerringly quiet claydol. "Carrow? You okay?" she asked aloud. When he didn't reply, she murmured '_…Carrow?_' across their mental link. The connection was warm, but quiet. He didn't respond. "Ca-"

"Rem, I love you, but we really need to go," Eti interrupted firmly.

Asio eased herself to her hooves, and stepped over to lay her head on Remni's shoulder, rubbing her chin against the fabric of her jacket before pulling back. Remni reached up to scratch at the normal-type's chin. She whickered, then nodded jerkily. Remni stroked Asio's cheek once more, then pressed the pokéball to the stantler's side and watched the red light swallow her up. She cast one last, long look at Carrow, but he stayed silent. Unnerved, she returned him as well. Both pokéballs went into her pockets.

"I'm really sorry to break you guys up," Eti said sincerely. "But we really need to go back." She was standing up on the balls of her feet, one hand on Rono's shoulder to hold herself up. The kricketune crooned, and turned around to lead the way back. Renna stamped her front hooves, and turned around.

Remni flapped her hand between herself and Tanner, and the huge snow-white bird took flight and paused to hover at her side. Jackal leapt to his feet, and rubbed his side against hers. Rono lead the way back, with Eti behind him. Remni followed after her with Jackal pacing at her side, and Tanner glided and whirled overhead. Renna trotted back and forth between them, making sure to evenly spread her light evenly between both trainers and their pokémon. On the way back, Eti explained what she knew.

"So, I woke up with Risa shaking me. My body was aching like I'd fallen over, and the blankets from the train were strewn all over the floor. Renna was out already-" She gestured to the hulking mare. "But everything out of her flame's reach was really, really dark. We were all in a sort-of…pile. Definitely not the same way we'd fallen asleep. She woke Alexei right after, but we couldn't find you. We all went out in different directions to look, and Em made a temporary psychic channel between us so we could communicate as we went. They know I've found you, and are all heading back to where we woke up. We all had our pokémon, but Em was exhausted and barely responsive, we had to leave her by the errr… the blankets." Eti's eyelids drooped and her brows furrowed, and in the flickering light Remni saw the brunette clench her fists before she continued and said, "I asked her what was wrong, but she didn't-or couldn't- tell me."

Glowing light began to appear in front of them. Renna stated to trot, and the trainers had to jog to keep up. Eti returned Rono when he began to lag, but Jackal loped easily beside them and Tanner kept pace even easier. An opaque bubble of light appeared- a Flash attack. When they entered it, they saw Risa pacing in a tight circle with Denno flapping behind her, Alexei was sitting cross-legged on the floor with Lotus standing beside him, and Nate floated between them right in the centre- the magnezone was the caster of the attack. Both humans jerked as she entered- and Risa ran over and grabbed her up in a hug. Alexei was a bit slower, and hesitated behind Risa, but eventually enveloped them both in his arms. Nate floated closer to Eti, putting them right in the middle of his self-contained Flash again.

Risa cupped Remni's cheeks between her freezing palms and breathed out sharply. "Gods, you're alive. _Gods_. Where were you? What happened?" she asked breathlessly.

Remni shakily patted at the back of her friend's hands, and gently pulled free. "I don't know…I just woke up on the ground…I don't remember anything after going to bed on the train," she explained slowly. She had a brief flash of red eyes and orange heat, but it was hazy and distant. She shook her head lightly.

"Yes, that's the same with us three as well. I haven't been able to talk to many other people, but most of the trainers here seem pretty confused," Eti replied.

"How long have they all been awake for? Does anyone know how long it's been since we fell asleep? Has anyone…got together to talk?" Remni asked.

"Not sure to all of those. We were focussed on finding you," answered Alexei.

"Oh. What if- what if we were all knocked out? Like, on purpose?" Remni asked nervously.

Eti laughed, but it was low and shaky. "I think we should worry about that later. Frightening everyone with conspiracy theories won't be a good start."

"Speaking of, let's get back and seeing if anything's changed," said Risa. Risa grabbed one of Remni's hands and tugged. "C'mon, I'm gonna make sure you don't wander off," she said in answer to Remni's confused smile.

Each trainer checked and re-checked the pokémon with them, while Nate's single red eye glowed, and the translucent sphere of light energy bloomed outwards, slowly becoming easier to see through. It extended into a circle with a twenty metre diameter, letting them see a fair way around them. Eti walked in front of him, leading them. Beside her was Alexei. Lotus wobbled after his blond trainer, and behind the golduck walked the other two girls. Risa kept Denno and Renna out- the crobat flitted back and forth behind her head, and the rapidash walked between her and the darker areas. Remni returned Jackal when he yawned and leaned heavily against her side, making her stumble. Tanner had landed beside her, but took off again when they started walking, flinging in short circles behind Risa and Remni. While they walked, Risa's fingers clenched and unclenched around her own- not harshly or painfully, but firm. Each time it happened, Remni would furrow her eyebrows at the other girl, who would shrug and relaxed her grip, only to repeat the motion a few seconds later.

After the tenth or more time (she wasn't counting, but it was a lot) she spoke up, "Okay, what? What's wrong?"

Risa paused, dragging Remni to a stop, then kept walking.

Remni's wrist ached, and angry heat built up inside her chest. She let a bit of the heat leak into her gaze as she stared back at Risa, but didn't pull her wrist free.

"I…" Risa began, looking between the two in front of them, who were talking quietly, then back to Remni. "I woke up in pain, didn't know where I was and you were missing. I kind of _panicked_, Rem. It was just like…just like that time….in…" She struggled for several seconds, mouth opening and closing and nothing coming out. Risa's fingers held her own like a vice. "Anyway, then Renna sensed something when we were walking around. I don't know what it was but, but she got really flighty, and kept trying to turn back to the train. I was so…worried that something had taken you, injured you or killed you and we didn't…_do_…anything." She said all at once, then heaved out a deep breath. It wasn't aggressive, just distressed. But to Remni it sounded…confrontational. Demanding. Like she blamed Remni for disappearing. Like Remni had walked off.

Remni bit her lip, and replied, "I'm sorry...to have reminded you of…" She bit down harshly on her own lip '_Of what? Of Johto? Of Maurice? Of…_' "Of what happened to you a few years ago," she finished lamely, trying and probably failing to placate her friend's anger.

"You mean 'of what I _did_ a few years ago'?" Risa said bitterly.

Remni froze. Her feet still moved and they both propelled themselves forward, but her heart was still in her chest and she felt as if every nerve stood still. '_Have I messed up? I was trying to help._' Her heartbeat started again all at once, from still to what felt like a dozen beats a second.

"Wait. Sorry. I just…" Risa spoke again, but just as quickly trailed off. They walked in silence for several seconds while both of them collected themselves, and ignored the way Eti and Alexei were pretending not to be eavesdropping. "I'm…still pissed about what happened," Risa said slowly. "And…and if it happened again I think…I would…_struggle_…to recover from it. Especially if it happened to one of us, like this." She gestured to the vast cavern around them.

"I understand," Remni replied. "I'm-I'm sorry I had to be the cause of it, but I really don't know really happened! Or how I got so…far away." She wasn't sure where the other three had woken up. "And yeah, some of my pokémon were acting strange but…but we didn't see anything weird. Ah, we didn't see much at all really." She struggled to remember, but there was nothing. Just- wrapping herself in their camping blankets, putting her back against the back of the chair. Then, waking up on the ground to see Eti crying.

"Sorry- shit-did I…make you feel like that was _your _fault?" Risa asked in a hurry, then before Remni could answer she said, "No, Rem, I'm not…not tryna say that you did something wrong. Was just- worried." She breathed in deeply. "Yeah, okay, that sounds lame. But, just know that I'm not angry," she said, repeating herself to sound sincere.

They fell into awkward silence for several long minutes, before Alexei elbowed between them and nudged Risa over to Eti. "Lemme say hi to her, alright? Gods," Alexei complained as he elbowed between them, then swung an arm around Remni's shoulders to tug her against him. Her hands came up as soon as he did, and wrapped around him in a hug. It was a little awkward- him in a thick puffy jacket and the two of them at an odd angle. But his chest was warm and familiar and she squeezed him against her, then laughed when he mock-gasped.

"Glad you're good, Rem," he said while pulling away. "The two of them-" he gestured with his shoulder to Eti and Risa, who were chatting amicably "-were freaking frantic. Not me though. I was totally calm." Lotus snorted loudly from behind his trainer, and turned his cream-coloured beak towards Remni to make sure that the girl saw. Alexei spluttered loudly at his pokémon's betrayal and Remni cackled so hard she became breathless in seconds.

She patted his cheek affectionately. "Sure, Lex, no worries." Then shoved him back and drawled out, "Wow, I love you too."

It only took about ten or fifteen minutes of bumbling around in the dark to reach the wreck, but with all three of her friends vying for her attention it felt even shorter to Remi. The large area was lit up with what looked like several different Flash attacks- a bright circle in the middle, and other sections of both lighter and darker areas surrounding it. Fire-types stood beside trainers in a few places- casting orange and red light onto the ground. Somehow, even with Eti's detailed explanation of the damage to the train and Risa's dramatic metaphors, it hadn't prepared her enough for what she saw.

The train lay like a crumpled snake. Its sides were scratched up where they weren't shredded or compressed, and chunks of furniture, metal plating and backpacks spilled out onto the ground like guts. Sparks occasionally arched between the bare wires and rippled down the plastic casing. A few years ago when Kalos was newly discovered, biologists swarmed the place. Before some of the more excitable and wayward members were leashed, several brutal videos had been released. One in particular was so starkly similar to this that Remni couldn't help but remember it. It was a half-finished autopsy, stopped only because a resonance with the electronic medical equipment somehow synced up with the mangled elektrik, and it came back alive only to slowly die. Through luck or some careless mistake, the audio portion of that video had been graciously missing, but nothing could burn out the memory off those splayed ribs, twitching, bleeding organs and electrical pulses. While this train wreck lacked the liquid aspect- the elektrik's murky green blood was the most startling difference, the mess and the electricity was a distinct reminder.

As such, Remni flinched as soon as she saw it, and gripped Eti's shoulder more tightly. "_Gods_," she said in shock, "How did anyone survive that?!" She had clapped one hand over her mouth, muffling the words.

Eti looked between the gutted carcass of the train and her friend. "I don't know. But the fact is that every single passenger on the train is alive," she explained slowly.

"Gods," Remni whispered, for what felt lie the hundredth time. She couldn't stop saying it- she had no other way to express the shock.

"Yeah. It's…" Eti trailed off.

People had gathered in the same area, but were dispersed into small groups and singles. Some talked amongst themselves and others just sat quietly. Most had a pokémon or six out, and many were wrapped up in their teams. A single large group was beginning to form, and low conversation passed between them- too low for Eti and Remni to hear at this distance. They shared a look, but Risa already barged ahead and dragging Alexei after her.

A muscular trainer wrapped in a leaf-themed blanket stepped forward when they came within a few feet of the group. The trainer was wearing shorts and a bloodstained tank top. They occasionally shivered, but had their hand out for a blanket passed from another trainer. "Thanks. My rhydon, Vaja, says that the rock and earth around here and above us is very, very thin. The train must have passed over a particularly weak section, and fell." The rhydon, easily two feet taller than the trainer that spoke, stood just behind them, and roared an affirmation.

The four trainers nudged into an open section of the circle, murmuring greeting and thanks as other made room for them. Even as they made themselves comfortable standing, other trainer had begun walking up. The circle grew thicker, then wider as more people wanted to see what was going on.

"There's holes all over these walls," another trainer spoke up, this one a redhead in arcanine-themed pyjamas. "If something was tunnelling all around here, making hundreds of thin layers, then the momentum of the falling train would've knocked us right through each layer. Until we hit one thick enough to hold us up."

Nine more trainers joined the group. There was now twice as many standing in the loose circle as there were sitting or lying down away from them.

"It's cold as shit down here, though," another trainer, this one in messy suit and a machamp crouched behind them. "And we can't see anything above us. The people here with flyers can't even reach the top. That's a long-ass way to fall."

"So…what?" A blonde spoke up, and Remni blinked as she recognised the blonde as Cassidy. The Hoennite was frowning at the suited trainer. Fiona and Wren stood beside her, and all three were wrapped in blankets on top of their pyjamas.

"_So_," the second speaker replied in a drawl, glaring at her. "How the fuck did we survive?! That kinda impact should have eviscerated our damn organs, broken all our bones and killed us. But everyone's alive, and the only injuries are a few cuts and bruises."

Cassidy pursed her lips. "So- all we know is that we fell a long way, and somehow it knocked out all our psychic-types?" she said, the statement slowly turning into a question as more and more of the group looked at her.

"Looks like it," Fiona said in affirmation, trying to back her up.

'Psychic-types?' Remni mouthed to Eti, who shrugged and pursed her lips. She'd thought Carrow was awake- he'd floated towards her- but he never spoke.

There was silence for several seconds, then,

"Alright," Bloody Shirt spoke up again. "So what could've happened? Let's look at our options." They readjusted their blanket to wrap more tightly, and looked expectantly around the group. Remni ducked her head to avoid meeting anyone's gaze, but Risa was unperturbed.

"Assuming nothing took us out while we were up there; the train moves along the track until it begins to pass over weaker sections. They give way, we fall…maybe the train catches on each layer of rock enough times to slow our fall, but everyone gets bounced around and…the psychics…projected their abilities out of their pokéballs? Maybe broke the train open so we wouldn't be crushed and put out any fires?" she also trailed off into uncertain questioning, but a few people nodded and muttered. "What's up with this giant cavern anyway."

"It's not unusual. There are many regions with large underground caverns," called out someone that Remni couldn't see.

"I don't know about _your _pokémon," Trainer-With-Suit-and-Machamp said, and then crossed their arms. "But my Lucia wouldn't pass out after such a _small_ effort."

"No offense," another trainer spoke up, also wearing pyjamas, and cradling one wrist against their body. "But Suit-Guy has a point-"

"My name is Brian," 'Suit-Guy' growls, and Injured Wrist put his palms up placatingly.

"No worries man, I'm Keith, but the point is…"

Remni jerked as her mind flashed with recognition '_Keith. The trainer with the arcanine, the gardevoir and the mantine. We made bread._' She noted as her tired brain brought up the memories. She was half-reminding herself and half-talking to-

'_Good to know,_' Carrow answered drily. Startled, Remni nearly jerked around before recognising him in her head.

'_You're talking again? You're okay?!_' she mentally yelled at him, then projected shaky, apologetic emotions at him when he winced and withdrew his mental presence from hers.

'_I am. I will discuss with you what happened later. Pay attention to this for now,_' he answers, and fell quiet. A soft humming began to grow from the back of her head, and she relaxed as it worked its way through her brain and soothed her. She'd missed most of what Keith had said, but Carrow highlighted the details quickly, '_He agreed with the angry one. His gardevoir is strong. Ripping apart a train, especially with a dozen or so other psychics, wouldn't knock her out._'

"So…" Eti began in the ensuing silence, and Remni fought the urge to retreat behind her friend when most of the group looked towards Eti, and subsequently her as well where she stood beside her friend. Her palms burned where the bruises lay.

Eti listed off the main, possible causes of energy-based exhaustion in psychic-types. Countless eyes rested on her friend, but it was near enough to her that her already-overworked heart picked back up again.

'_Pay attention,_' Carrow reminded her.

"…fighting something big? If we encountered whatever's been tunnelling as we fell…" Eti said.

"You assume it was a single powerful pokémon, and not multiple small ones?" someone answered, and Remni looked up to see the lean-muscled, mop-haired trainer that had slumped half-asleep on Keith a few days ago. Ren? Ryan? Something. She felt Carrow begin to subtly pick through her mind in search of the name that is no doubt stored somewhere far from her awareness. She yanked all the recent memories post-crash and stuff them in a corner before he can see them.

"I'm not sure," Eti replied. "But it's a possibility."

"Better question: assuming the psychics _did _do something, and I don't think a single person here doubts that," another trainer spoke up. Remni craned her neck to see them push through the vague circle to the front. They had long, dark hair, black as the void around them, and were one of the few not wearing pyjamas. "How in the hell did they get out of their pokéballs? I don't have a psychic type, but I know people who do and even experienced psychics take time and practice to open a locked ball from the _inside,_" they explained, and squared their shoulders.

"Depends on the experience, I think," Eti spoke up again. She turned to her left to look at Remni and asked, "What level is Carrow, Rem?"

Other's in the group turn to mutter to each other, and Remni heard whispered numbers. Noticing her, Keith waved excitedly, and so did his friend, though Ren-

'_Reise_' Carrow interjects.

-was somewhat more reserved. Risa stared at them and Remni shrunk when her friend looked back at her. It took her a moment to reply. "Uhh...low sixties?" she finally answered. It wasn't exactly true- but Raune and Luka, her twin and her oldest sister, used to drill into the other siblings that they should always outwardly underestimate the strengths of their pokémon, even if it were only to a minute degree. It felt a little off every time she did it, but it hadn't done her wrong yet. Risa called out the answer.

"Lucia is fifty-eight," Brian yelled.

"Em's sixty," Eti replied.

"My kirlia's about forty-something," Fiona called out. "And Wren's gardevoir is like…what? Fifty?" she turned to ask her boyfriend, and he nodded.

A few others yelled out, all around mid-fifties to high-sixties.

"…Narsch is at level seventy-six," Keith called during the next lull, and Remni arched her eyebrows, impressed.

His friend elbowed him. "Oh my gods, get over yourself. Mine are sixty-five, give or take," he said.

"Wha-Reise!" Keith whined. "I was not!" That drew chuckled murmurs, but the two only had eyes for each other when Reise snapped something back, snarkily this time, but quieter.

After Keith there are a few more, quieter calls, all in the low to high sixties. Carrow makes a note of them even as Remni growls something at him. One of the final callers is a tall head of green hair, and they picked a number in the eighties. There's a short hush immediately after, the level is not impossible but very uncommon. Carrow made a note in her head that Remni mentally scrubbed out the next second, without reading it.

"That's a pretty fair amount of experience," Eti said politely, to break the silence. "I think it's safe to say they'd all be capable of getting out, but I'm not sure how long it would take,"

"I…" a voice spoke up again from the back, but softer than the previous yells. It was the green-haired trainer. Stepping out from between the black-haired snarly one and someone who hadn't spoken was a tall, willowy trainer with shiny, dark black skin, and long, loose hair. They were about a head taller than the average, and even across from them, Remni felt small, "I might be able to help with that. My…metagross has a knack for opening pokéballs. It's likely that, if something happened and she knew, she could've unlocked each one on the train, enough for the pokémon inside to leave on their own."

"_Anna,_" the black-haired trainer hissed, and every single person stared at them. 'Anna' straightened her shoulders, and rolled a pokéball out of her sleeve in a single smooth movement.

"Relax, Mich," she replied, her voice quiet but rough. She hefted the ball. "This is her, but she hasn't been replying to me since before the crash."

Many of the other trainers start to share looks, and there's a low muttering. Brian crosses his arms and leaned over like he was leaning forward onto something. "How'd your girl learn something like that?!" he demanded.

Anna looked at him, a flat stare, and 'Mich' stepped up beside her to glare at the man. Another girl stepped up beside _her_, and this one Remni recognised. It was Tamora, the girl from the woods. She clapped her hand onto Mich's shoulder, and lightly tugged her back. Anna rolled her own shoulders back and levelled them. "They learn it on their own. You should know as well as anyone ese that pokémon grow much more quickly with trainers, and adapt to what their trainers bring to them. It is the same as an octillery in a jar; you put a psychic in a ball and they will learn how to break free," she explained, still calm and steady.

The next silence was deafening. Multiple trainers glanced between the two. Most experienced trainers had learned over time to keep calm and cool-headed in a disaster, but the longer a person was in trouble the more likely that conflict would build. After a breath, Keith called back, "Yeah dude, back off already."

"So!" Eti called out as the two male trainers begin to size each other up. "Is anyone else's psychic awake and responding?"

"Yeah," the red-haired trainer in flame-print pyjamas cut in. "Let's see what they can tell us before we start picking fights."

Eti and Remni shared a look and the brunette straightened. Carrow went quiet again, but Eti caught her friends tiny nod, and reached over to interlink their fingers.

"I, uh…. C-Carrow is," she said, a touch louder than normal, and she quickly became louder. "He…started talking to me a few minutes ago. He's not injured." People began looking over, and Remni ducked her head. She felt her fingers tremble against Eti's, and the brunette tugged her closer to nudge their shoulders. "If he wants and if you want, I can let him out?" she asks. In another part of the circle, Keith noticed the way Remni was attempting to edge behind her friend and called out.

"My gardevoir is awake as well! Narsch is up and willing to talk to us."

'_I can speak to them,_' Carrow said quietly.

'_Wait for them. We have to work together with these people,_' she answered.

People began to mutter. Three other trainers already had pokéballs in their hands and gesturing with or at them. "Try asking him first," Eti suggested just to Remni when there was no real response.

'_Okay Carrow,_' she asked him mentally, and fixed her gaze on the ground to concentrate, ''_Tell me what happened.'_

'_I was asleep. A pokémon identifying itself as Neutronus addressed us,' _he said.

Remni whispered the name aloud.

Risa, who was standing on her other side, called out, "Anyone here with a psychic named Neutronus?"

Another set of murmuring. Remni had started to get sick of the noise.

"Yes. That's my exeggutor. What about him?" The new voice was a short trainer with long purple hair, who stood a few feet from Tamora.

"I dunno," Risa answered, and looked back at Remni. So was Eti. So was everyone else.

Remni stayed quiet for several more seconds while Carrow finished his explanation. "Carrow says Neutronus woke him up- woke all of them. When he did the pokéball was already unlocked but I…didn't leave it like that."

"Narsch says Neutronus told them all that they had to hold the train psychically, because it was falling?" Keith called out. The gardevoir was out and standing beside the blond.

"Lucia says that Neutronus coordinated each psychic to evenly distribute their strength, and slow it as it fell. But they weren't told why it was falling. Once it hit the ground, they all passed out-" Brian continued the explanation.

"Neutronus is here, but he's not responding," Interrupted the purple haired trainer. As they stepped out from the group into the light, Remni noticed that their hair was both longer and darker than Fiona's.

"-except for two," Brian finished.

'_Let me out._' Carrow demanded all of a sudden, '_And the exeggutor and the metagross. I want to see them._'

"Carrow wants to talk to Neutronus and…your exeggutor?" Remni said, and her voice grew high-pitched and questioning at the end. She grabbed at her other wrist before even thinking, opened up the controls and released Carrow's pokéball. The red-and-white device was in her hand before anyone responded. In a flash of light, the claydol hovered in front of her, and Remni nearly dropped the pokéball.

Anna and the purple-haired trainer nodded, and in two more, larger bursts of red light a metagross and an exeggutor appeared, both with their eyes closed. The metagross hovered mere inches from the rocky floor. Carrow immediately moved towards the other two psychic-types, both of which were huge and stood a few feet taller than him, though it was minimised by the height he hovered at. The exeggutor is sitting down, and the metagross hovers very low to the ground. Carrow glows neon pink, as does Narsch. There was silence for several minutes. The trainers start to share looks again, confused and unsure. Carrow's eyes crack open, and all of them are glowing.

'_What is it?!_' Remni asked him urgently, projecting it down their shared link.

'_There is severe damage to the parts of their brains that govern speech and high-order thinking. They are both healing very slowly, and that is why they are locked down like this,_' Carrow answers, but his voice was quiet, like it was coming from a distance, '_I believe it is from the strain of holding the train and coordinating us; they appear to have linked up psychically, and worked as one. I…regret that we appear to be the cause of this._'

Remni's startled response must've been audible as well as a mental jerk, because Risa grabbed her shoulder and Alexei whispered, "What? What is it?"

"Carrow says they overlapped their…minds? And that the stress from holding the train and coordinating every psychic damaged their brains!" she practically shouted. Brain damage in psychics was a serious issue, and the larger, stronger ones were more prone to early-onset neurodegenerative diseases, if they didn't pick them up from half-arsed breeding or other genetic vulnerabilities.

"_Brain damage?!_" the violet-haired girl yelled all of a sudden. A trainer with an alakazam stood next to her, gesturing at the two psychics. Tamora gripped the girl's shoulder in one hand and said something quietly. Anna gestured towards a lunatone that hung in their air in front of her, attracting the attention of the other two. The three trainers now stood a few steps away from the group, towards the centre of the circle, with the lunatone, the metagross and the exeggutor.

"Hang on, hang on," the violet-haired girl called. "What kind of potions will help the most?" she asked, seemingly to the group as a whole.

"Hyper potions are best for brain damage," someone that Remni couldn't see called out. Both trainers searched their bags and came up with two of the pink and white bottles, and two labelled pink-tinged syringes. They took one of each, and quickly applied them.

'_Healing is accelerating,_' Carrow reported, '_The exeggutor will wake in several seconds, the metagross in minutes._'

The lunatone lit up brightly for several seconds, and Anna nodded at it. The purple-haired trainer sighed and slumped down to sit on the floor as the floating rock-psychic type vanished into its pokéball.

The group fell into an awkward silence while waiting for the two psychics to awaken, and many wandered off to set up tents. Cassidy, Fiona and Wren walked the long way around the circle to meet them.

"Hey!" Cassidy whisper-yelled in greeting, "You all doin' alright?" she asked.

Eti glanced at Remni, but it was Risa who responded, "We're fine, just a few bruises and scrapes. You guys?" She looked over each of the three, but to Remni there were no significant visible injuries.

"We're fine," Fiona said, and wrapped an arm around Wren to draw him closer. "It's freezin', though." Her boyfriend laughed and buried his face into the side of neck. Both had wrapped blankets around them, but the ones on the train had been thin due to the hot weather.

"What are we going to do?" Eti asked quietly, but they were all close enough to hear.

"Someone tried to fly up with a swellow, see if there was a way up, but the cavern gets real slim further up, and they got too tired to keep going," Wren said.

"Anyone tried teleporting?" Risa asked.

"Probably," Cassidy answered, fidgeting with her belt. In a flash Arrow appeared, and chuckled as he climbed up her arm to settle on her shoulders. The ghost-type was large enough that balancing on her small human shoulder looked comical, but ghost-types were typically very light

"Depending on how deep beneath the ground we are, there could be a lot of earth between us and the surface. On top of that it would be hard to see where they're going. I think an average psychic type would have a lot of trouble attempting to reach the surface." Eti said thoughtfully while gazing at the darkness around them.

Neutronus and Shyanne tell them that they sensed the train falling and broke out of their balls, then woke the others. By the time they actually broke out, the train bad knocked through the first several layers, and all the ones afterwards were more spread out.

A wave of pearlescent light erupted from the exeggutor, and flowed out over the ground. It passed through each of the standing trainers, the sitting ones until it hit the far walls on either side. The glow slowly faded, and it opened it's eyes.

'_Hello everyone,_' The exeggutor's voice rumbled through Remni's head, and she jerked. Several trainers made muffled noises, and even Risa jerked beside her.

'_Shyanne and I woke when the train fell. We both synced our minds lightly with Auronus', and awoke when he was startled. We did not have the time or power to move it or the passenger's free of the gap. To the best of our ability, we attempted to slow the train's decent. The two of us together were capable of holding the train, but not those inside. The first time we held it, many were thrown or injured. We are deeply sorry for this oversight.' _Neutronus the exeggutor started to explain. Silence reigned for several long moments, and other trainers began to speak to each other again.

The bruises on Remni's skin ached at the grass/psychic-type's words and she glanced down at her arms. Light black and blue patches rested on her shoulders and forearms, and even now were beginning to darken. They ached now, had even when Eti had brushed the pads of her fingers over them, but compared to what they could have suffered…

'_I do not have the reach to quantify exactly how far we fell, but even the four kilometres that I can feel would have been enough to damage you all significantly, and may would have been killed,_' Carrow said. '_Our pokéballs could have been shattered from the force if they were not digitalised._' He generated a small ball of weak psychic energy at the end of one hand and dropped it over his trainer like a veil. It dragged over Remni's skin like trailing cloth, and highlighted each injury in pale pink energy.

When the glow increased, Eti looked at her with a slight frown. Remni shook her head dismissively. The glow lightened slowly, and in her mind's eye Carrow projected a three-dimensional outline of a human body. It was obviously her, identical to all the others he'd shown her. A bright pink glow lit up on the outline over her neck and shoulders, the entirety of her back, her forearms and in random patches on her legs. Some of the marks glowed differently- the huge patch on her back was dimmer than the others, but her forearm patches glowed like a beacon. Physically, she brought both arms up in front of her with her hands pressed together. The patches in her mind mapped directly onto the sides of her forearms- the outermost part of her arm. '_Did I…smash into some part of the train when we fell?_' She asked him, but it was mostly rhetorical. It was worse than any other part of her, and she couldn't think of another time when the damage could have occurred.

'_In light of our first failure, Shyanne unlocked every pokéball on the train. We did not have time to separate the non-psychic types from the psychic-types. Our communication defaulted to psychics only at first, which allowed us to awaken them. Each of them were presented with the situation and directed to help. Unfortunately the distance was very great, the impacts were greatly jarring and the final impact was jarringly sudden. The energy expenditure knocked them all out immediately._'

'_In the remaining time,_' Another voice interjected smoothly. "_We_ _split open the carriages to allow the passengers to get out. The impact warped the doorways and crumpled each booth. We were hasty in our exhaustion, and damaged the train more extensively than we intended too. That is why there is such a large quantity of debris in this area._"

Remni looked up from where her fists slowly clenched and unclenched, and met the now-opened eyes of the other psychic.

Shyanne the metagross rotated slowly to take in the details of the entire cavern. A single eye caught her gaze while another looked elsewhere, before moving on to the next trainer.

The metagross spoke up again, and the voice that rolled through each trainer's mind was as smooth and unstoppable as a tsunami, '_It will take time for Neutronus and I to reach our full strength, but even then it will not be enough to transport even a single person back up to the surface. We are too far deep, and the earth around us is too unknown._'

Gasps rung out around them and a few people cursed loudly. In the middle of the circle, the purple-haired trainer and Anna shared a look, and both put their hands on their own pokémon. Neutronus did not move an inch, but even halfway across the circle, Remni could see the way Shyanne floated closer to Anna. Even without knowing them, it made something deep in her chest ache, and she reached for Carrow both physically and psychically. He ran his consciousness against hers with warmth, and one of his knobby arms pressed into her palm. She looked him in the eye, flicking between the three that had settled on her, and back to the middle. There was a soft hum in her head, and she saw Eti and Risa mouthing to each other in her peripheral vision, then nodding.

"You still getting that?" she whispered to Alexei, who nodded. She knew that it meant the connection between Shyanne and all the trainers was live, but the metagross was not speaking. Remni looked at Alexei nervously, but he was already looking back to Risa. The two trainers intertwined their fingers, and Remni felt warmth under her other palm when Eti bumped their hands. The brunette laughed softly, gestured at the other two with her head, and quirked her lips. The sting from Alexei not seeing her was quickly smothered under Eti's affection and their shared amusement. She tried to stay focussed on Eti, to bring something up to discuss but her eyes darted helplessly back to the middle. The four trainers and the two huge psychics still stayed right in the middle, and as she looked up she saw Tamora jerk her head, and Michi punched her in the shoulder. Remni winced empathetically, but the silver-haired girl laughed and shoved at the other's shoulder with an open palm. It looked friendly and familiar, and made Remni smile in spite of the gloomy situation.

'_Although we are all alive, for the time being we are trapped here. No human or pokémon within this group is capable of reaching the surface. Auronus survived and escaped the train as it fell. We must wait for him to contact or create a rescue team. There are certainly Hoenn-based operations that are capable of it. For now, we must work together to stay alive until then. I, my trainer, Neutronus, Eliana and the rest of our group will put or full efforts into this. We will atone for our failure._'

* * *

Author's Notes: YES CAVE STUFF. Sorry this was so delayed! Things just always keep happening I s'pose. I hope you liked this one! The next few chapters will all be underground stuff. Don't worry too much about the characters introduced. Most were just there to give an idea of the number of different trainers. Only a handful will show up frequently, and even then some will more than others. Feel free to drop me aa line if you have any questions or spot any mistakes! I try to re-read each chapter two or three times to check for spelling errors, but the more I write the easier it is to miss something. Going to try to get the next chapter out in a week or so, but we'll see. Thanks for reading!

**Team Lists-**

**Remni**\- **Carrow** (claydol), **Jackal** (luxray), **Nikko** (sharpedo), **Quil** (skarmory), **Asio** (stantler), **Tanner** (togekiss).

**Alexei**\- **Wisteria** (staraptor), **Cineraria** (luxray), **Lilium** (roserade), **Lotus** (golduck), (weavile), (hippowdon).

**Eti**\- **Detonate [Nate]** (magnezone), **Ricochet [Ric]** (rampardos), **Deadshot [De]** (lucario), (kricketune), **Backlash [Lassie] **(floatzel), **Emanate [Em] **(alakazam).

**Risa**\- **Twit** (abomasnow), **Denno** (crobat), **Renna** (rapidash), **Annushka** (gyarados), **Leila **(mismagius), **Tar **(rhyperior).

**Cassidy**\- **Arrow** (banette), (swampert), (shiftry), (masquerain), (aggron), (electabuzz).

**Fiona**\- (kirlia), (sceptile), (altaria), (swalot), (magneton), (armaldo).

**Wren**\- (blaziken), (linoone), **Adeline** (gardevoir), (mightyena), (flygon), (walrein).


	7. Chapter Seven

'_Humans are designed to be social- you will all learn to work together,_' Carrow declared, and wrapped bands of psychic energy around his trainer. He lifted Remni up from where she sat cross-legged on the floor, held her until her legs straightened, then lowered her onto her feet.

Remni sighed and shook her head at the conflict in front of them.

All throughout the cavern trainers yelled, argued and paced. The four trainers in the middle- Anna, Eliana, Tamora and Michi- had been joined by Keith and Reise, as well as a ranger and a few other trainers. A number of other pokémon now sat or paced the area, including a tightly-coiled steelix, a floating lanturn and a hovering gardevoir. Cassidy, Fiona and Wren had disappeared into the throng of people when the arguing started. Risa and Alexei argued loudly with another group of three and Eti spoke calmly with Brian, who gestured wildly.

A headache was steadily pounding away under her scalp, and Remni massaged her fingers against it. While it was better to get it out of the way now, the terror wasn't any less awful to experience. With most other trainers panicking, her heart had kicked up immediately and pounded away to the tune of dozens of yelling people. Carrow had scooped her up from the group and carried her away, only for her to crumple on the ground when he set her down. It was quieter even a few metres away, and she leaned against a protruding rock and focussed on calming down.

'_Fix your mess,_' Carrow snarled distantly, and she heard the deep grumbled answer of one of the huge psychics. A soft pressure touched against the outside of her mental barriers. Based on the familiar feeling, it was probably Shyanne.

'_Enough. This is not helping._' The words rumbled through her head, and based on the silence that ensued, through everyone else's heads as well. '_We will try to reach the ceiling and understand how significant the situation is. It is very important that everyone moves further down the passage in case any debris falls. For the time being we are stuck here, so some of you may want to set up bedding. Anyone with spare paper should try to map out the area, preferably with help. Are there any other suggestions?_'

"I…uh…I think we should set up an area where anyone who was injured can get checked up," someone called out aloud. Heads turned, and a trainer with short, spiky, dark green hair waved at the group. They smiled wildly. "Me and Karlita-" they gestured to the trainer standing beside them. "-trained as nurses in Johto. I know there aren't any life-threatening injuries, but it's important to make sure that we're all super healthy…and it's always good for the two of us to get practice!" they explained, and stuck out a hand in a thumbs up.

"I've got a blissey?" someone else called hesitantly.

'_Good,_' this voice was slightly different, lighter and with more variation in the tone, '_Keeping both healthy and busy is important for trainers. Anything else?_'

"Digging toilets," stated another typically-dressed trainer. A few of the other trainers scrunched their noses.

'_Also important,_' Shyanne cut in again, '_My group needs to immediately address the issue of our being trapped, and others may do as they please. Begin when you are ready. Come to us if there is something that we can help you with._' The presence then faded and pulled away, the disconnect so smooth that it did not jostle her nervous system the way Carrow sometimes would. It was the practiced, professional touch of a very honed psychic.

"Michi!" A familiar voice yelled.

Remni jerked her head back towards the small group of people and the two huge psychics. All of them were looking across the cavern at a far wall lit up with a Flash attack. It was dark between the two areas where the attacks did not cross over. A lanturn floated about a foot off of the ground at the base of the wall with its antennae glowing brightly. Michi and an infernape had made their way several metres up the wall, and after the call of her name, the trainer let go with one hand to flip the smaller group off before continuing to climb. Despite the clinging gloom, Remni laughed quietly.

Most of the group turned away from the other girl, but Tamora, who had called out initially, stared after her for several seconds. Eventually, she shook her head and looked back to her group.

It consisted of about nine or ten trainers. Remni recognised several; Tamora, Anna, Eliana, Keith, Reise, and before her departure, Michi. Another ranger had joined the group, as well as three other trainers. The ranger had a badge pinned to their jacket which easily identified them. All of them engaged in a loud conversation that involved lots of hand gestures.

"We need to get up to the ceiling to see if we can get though."

"If we can't see the sky, and there's no light, then the rocks almost definitely caved in and covered it."

"Maybe a pokémon is sitting on top of it?"

"Have you seen a pokémon that's bigger than that train? 'Cause it needs to be big enough to cover a hole that _that_ train fell through."

"It doesn't matter. We need to find out."

"All of this is pointless and unfounded if we don't go up and look."

Remni watched them for a while longer while Risa and Alexei walked away to talk to some of the other trainers. Eti sat down on a shredded train chair, and tugged Remni down after her. The brunette tapped her pokétch and retrieved four more pokéballs, then turned the device off entirely. A few feet away, Cassidy, Fiona and Wren spoke quietly to each other. Remni looked at them and thought about how she didn't really know them at all.

"I think we should keep our pokémon inside their balls unless we need them," Eti said. "Even walking around here will eventually make them hungry and thirsty, and we don't know how much food and water we have."

Remni nodded, checked in with Carrow, and returned Tanner, who had landed and stayed quiet for the entire discussion. Nate went back to Eti, and when Remni glanced in Alexei and Risa's direction, she saw that Lotus the golduck had disappeared, and Renna the rapidash and Denno the crobat were being returned.

Her mind wandered, and Remni looked back at the small group. A large braviary stood on the ground with its eyes on the darkness above them. Keith stood beside it, and was weighing two pokéballs in hand. He nodded at Anna and stepped onto the braviary, then crouched down.

"Bra-a!" the huge flying-type squawked, then beat its wings harshly and slowly flew up into the air.

A trainer with a handful of pokéballs walked over and began to talk to Anna. They immediately released a pidgeot, which cocked its head at them for several seconds before flying straight up into the air. A hypno appeared out of the next pokéball, but the mop-haired trainer who had been with Keith stepped in the way and gestured widely above and to the side of them.

'_Reise,_' Carrow reminded her when he saw where her attention wandered to.

Remni watched multiple small groups of trainers as they meandered over to the far walls. Some sat on the ground and stared up, others held their heads in their hands while half a dozen began to set up tents.

Alexei and Risa walked back to them Risa stroked her chin, then turned to the others and asked, "Alright, what do you all want to do?"

"I think I'd like to go help set up the care centre that that trainer mentioned earlier. Lucario are deeply intuitive, kricketune have soothing and healing lullabies and any psychics are helpful with injuries. I'm sure De, Rono and Em will all be interested," Eti explained.

"We're goin' to go set up a camp," Cassidy said. "It'll be good to get our bearings and talk to the other trainers- get a good idea of what's happenin' right now and how everyone's feelin'."

Remni nodded along with Risa. The blonde looked between the group of four with her head down and her lip between her teeth. Remni smiled reassuringly at her, and Eti told her not to worry about them.

"I'm gonna go figure out this map stuff," Risa said. "Renna's quick and can light up the area without using extra energy, and Tar's a rock-type so he'll be good help."

"I'll go with you," Alexei said quickly.

Eti laughed, and looked at him dead in the eye. "Sure you will," she said sweetly.

"What?" he asked, then demanded. "What does that mean?!"

Eti looked back at Remni, but it was more of an 'are-you-seeing-this' look than a 'back-me-up-on-this' look, so Remni just laughed. Alexei and Risa looked at them suspiciously, but let it go. Fiona was biting down on her knuckles but the corners of her lips were pointed up and the other two were in similar states.

In the brief pause that followed, Remni chanced a look back at the small group staring up into the void. The huge braviary spiralled back down from the gloom and touched down on the rock while she looked, but Keith wasn't with it.

"What are you looking at?" Risa asked.

Remni turned back so forcefully something hot burst in her neck, and she slapped a hand over it and winced.

"Is your new boyfriend someone in that group?" Eti asked, pointing at them.

Remni slapped her friend's hand down, mortified and she blushed bright red. "He's- He's not my boyfriend, Gods Eti, we talked like once!"

"Boyfriend?" Alexei and Risa echoed curiously.

"They had a cute date. Made lunch together, he fed her," Eti continued, then yelped when Remni slapped her other hand over her mouth.

"_Stop,_" Remni begged. "I saw him trying to bake bread, you know, like what we tried on Coronet? I got curious! It was his first time trying it so I helped out, and he gave me some bread as a thank you. It wasn't a _thing_. Gods."

"I'm just teasing you," Eti said gently, but was laughing under her breath.

Remni flicked her friend's shoulder. She felt irritated, but not angry. "Just wait."

Risa stretched up on her tiptoes to look over Remni's head. "Which one?" she asked.

"The blond?" Alexei asked.

Over her shoulder, she could see that he'd come back down on a flygon. The huge green dragon landed lightly, wings flickering as it softened the descent. The others approached him, and he tossed a pokéball to Tamora, who caught it one handed.

"I feel like I shouldn't tell you," Remni mused. She laughed when Alexei slapped at her shoulder.

"_Unfair,_" he whined.

"He's…attractive, I guess," Eti said, off-handed.

"Very boy-next-door," Alexei added, and Remni rolled her eyes in response.

Risa squinted.

"I keep telling you that you need to get glasses," Eti said affectionately.

"This is real cute, and you guys are a laugh," Cassidy interjected, and gestured to the group near the far wall. "But I wanna get started on settin' up and talkin' to people. We'll see you around."

Fiona waved at them and Wren said, "See ya." The three walked away from them.

Remni felt a soft pressure between her shoulder blades, and looked around to see Eti smile at her. "Go help them out, if you want," she said softly. "You have Tanner _and_ Quil; both very good flyers. As well as a psychic-type. Don't worry about sticking it out with us. There's not many places we can go," she explained.

Remni looked between her and the other two. Alexei gave her a thumbs-up, but Risa looked nervous.

"I'd kinda rather you be with us…" Risa said slowly.

Alexei stepped on her foot.

"Ow! Fuck, Lex!" Risa glared at him. "Gods, but I'm not gonna make you trail after us. Do what you wanna do, Rem," she said, and shoved Alexei off of her foot. He scampered around her and drew Remni into a hug, then backed up and jogged over to the wall. Risa cursed, waved at them and ran after him.

Eti leaned in, wrapped an arm around Remni and pressed their cheeks together. "There's a guy with a lot of paper out just over there," she said, and pointed to a dark-haired trainer that kneeled halfway between the ceiling-investigation group and the set-up-camp people. Two other trainers stood around them. "That's got to be the map crew. Come get me if you need something."

"Alright," Remni replied. "Same to you?" she tried to say, but it came out as more of a question. Eti smiled at her anyway, they said goodbye, and wandered apart.

Walking towards the group made Remni's heart pound, and she clenched her fists automatically. She'd met Keith, Reise and Tamora before. But chances were that, because they were with their own group of friends now they might not want her around. '_But those other trainers came afterward,_' she reminded herself. '_They didn't seem to know each other, but they're all working together anyway._'

Keith saw her first, and waved excitedly as she neared.

Her steps slowed, but she smiled back hesitantly as he grinned. She stopped about a metre from the nearest person.

"Guys," Keith said, addressing the group. "This is Remni! She helped me _not _set the bread on fire," he explained.

Tamora nodded politely and said, "We've met."

Some of the others waved.

The purple-haired girl spoke up, "I'm Eliana, and you've met Neutronus," she said, and waved a hand at the exeggutor. It bowed lightly and waved the leafy appendages on its head. "We're from Johto."

"All of us are, actually," Tamora said steadily, and gestured between herself, Keith, Reise, Anna, Eliana and the far wall that Mich had climbed. "Those two girls and guys aren't, though." She pointed at the pale-blue-haired ranger and the other three trainers.

The ranger waved a deeply tanned hand, and said, "My name's Lisa! I'm your average Kantonese girl, honestly." Her tone was sweet and she sounded happy.

The other three trainers were gathered around a slender charizard with a huge wingspan. The clawed tips of its wings curled around two of them, easily covering ten square metres on the ground and most of their bodies, although Remni could see their dark silhouettes through the membrane. They called their names out in greeting, one-by-one, while they wrangled a leather saddle onto the fire/flying-type's back,

"I'm Carver!"

"My name's Dean."

"Just call me Holly."

Remni watched them secure it in place, triple check the buckles around it's legs and stomach then Dean hauled himself up into the saddle and knee-walked up the charizard's neck.

"This is Tawny," he said and looked over to Remni. She could see him much more clearly when he wasn't bundled up in bright orange wing-membrane. He had lightly-burned pale skin, and crimson red hair with about an inch of chestnut brown regrowth at the roots. He was dressed in typical sturdy hiking clothes and had a purple scarf and orange googles looped around his neck. He patted the huge pokémon's neck and she saw his mouth move, but couldn't hear what he was saying. After several seconds, the charizard flicked its tail so that it curled more tightly around itself, and another trainer eased up onto the saddle. This one had long black hair tied back into a braid, light brown skin and a huge smile.

"Holly, come on!" someone whined, drawing out the 'n' in on from the other side of the charizard. Holly's grin widened, and she knelt down and reached out to drag up the final trainer. This one had cropped black hair, the same colour skin as Holly and similar sturdy outdoor clothes. A purple pokémon with two small arms and two much larger ones clung to his shoulders and snickered when the two started a playful shoving match.

"Carver! Holly! Cool it!" Dean shouted when the charizard growled.

"Sorry Tawny!" the two chorused, and ducked their heads when the charizard swung is head around to stare at them. Caver hesitantly held his hand out towards the pokémon's mouth, and it snorted onto it. He snatched his hand back straight away, and blew on it between chanting, "Hot! Hot! Hot!" under his breath.

"She's going to set the both of you on fire one day," Dean scolded them. "Now, get into the harness and make sure the straps are done up tightly" He began working on his own harness.

"Yes, Mum!" Holly called, and knelt down and knee-walked forward to nab the middle spot on the saddle. Carver slid into place after her, and they helped each other with the dangling leather straps. Each had a buckle, and tightened around the calves and thighs of the rider. The saddle was the rich, deep brown of good leather, worn a little around the edges, and hooked around the base of Tawny's neck and tail, as well as once around her belly to anchor it.

"Get going, you three," Reise called and scooped a tablet device out of Keith's hands. It was tilted towards him, so Remni couldn't see what it said, but the blonde pouted at his friend when it was taken.

"We're trying to reach the ceiling and see what we're dealing with," a voice said slowly.

Remni spun to her right to see Tamora standing there. She had one hand on her hip and the other dangling by her side. Her face was flat, her eyes drooped slightly in what looked like exhaustion, but the corners of her mouth were tilted up. There were dusty marks on her pants and hips, like she'd rubbed her hands clean there. "Keith went up with his braviary, but she got too tired and he had to swap onto my flygon. It became narrow at some parts and they had to come back down. Someone else went up with a pidgeot and also returned before they hit the roof. We're using Lisa's smeargle and Keith's gardevoir's Flash to mark how far each person it getting, but we haven't got far yet. Do you have any ideas?" she explained quickly, gesturing at Keith, the ranger with the pale blue hair and finally the gardevoir hovering in the air beside him. As the two girls watched, he returned it to a pokéball in his hand and passed it over to Holly. Tawny stood up onto her toes, ducked low, then leapt into the air and beat her wings harshly. She quickly disappeared into the gloom above them- the flame on her tail the only point of light tracking them, and even then it disappeared after a minute or so.

"Wow," Remni said stupidly, then winced. "I mean! Wow, you've done a lot already! I was- uh -thinking that, 'cause I have two flying-types, um a togekiss and a skarmory, who are both pretty good flyers, and a psychic-type, the-the claydol, Carrow, we could try a combination of flying and Teleporting and see how far we get? Carrow's got a really good sense of direction, and he can feel out the area in front of him for about a hundred metres?" she said all in one go, and bit her tongue when she reviewed the words and they sounded like babble. "That's…it's probably a stupid idea or maybe you've already tried that, sorry, I just…" She trailed off awkwardly when Tamora made no move to correct her. She studied the other girl's face- smooth of any lines, light green eyes that had a (bored?) glaze to them and thin lips. Tamora didn't move, her face didn't even twitch. Remni couldn't pick out any sign that might tell her that she was saying the right or wrong thing.

Then, the girl blinked and shook her head. "No!" she said, almost shouted, and Remni's heart dropped. She had- She'd wanted to help, been excited at the idea of knowing some of the people in the group and being able to contribute to part of this but clearly… She took a step back.

"No, it's a good idea!" Tamora insisted, and her lips slowly pulled into a grin. "Sorry I completely zoned out, I'm…I'm really tired. We haven't done much and not many of us have psychic-types, and the one's that do…well… Anyway, if you're willing to help out, we'd really appreciate it," she said earnestly. Tamora looked into Remni's eyes, continuing to smile, and raised her eyebrows questioningly.

"S-sure!" Remni blurted out her reply, briefly distracted by the hint of teeth in the other girl's smile, as well as the green eyes. Up close, she could see that they had flecks of light grey in them- like trapped points of starlight, or starly down falling through the air. "I'd love to help," she amended, keeping her voice steady and looked away. Remni flushed, and one of her hands automatically came up to cover her cheeks.

But Tamora either didn't notice her mental flailing, or didn't mind or didn't think to comment, and just answered, "Great! Come talk to Reise, he's keeping an eye on our progress so far, and he and Keith are mapping it out on Reise's tablet," she said, then started walking towards them.

"Uh, okay!" Remni called, jogged to catch up, then fell into step beside her. Keith and Reise had wandered away from the group a bit, but it only took her and Tamora around twenty seconds to reach them. The two were arguing about something.

"Keith. You need to take a break and wait for Kalypso to get her energy back. Stop freaking out," Reise growled.

"But we're trapped down here! This isn't good for you or for-for anyone else," the blond argued.

"Stop worrying about me. You are not my dad."

"I-I KNOW TH- I know that."

"Keith, enough," Tamora said as she walked up behind them. Reise jerked and swore as he fumbled the tablet, and she lay her hand on his shoulder in apology.

Remni hung behind her slightly.

"Tam, how can you _not_ be worried about this?!" Keith demanded, and swung around to stare her down.

"Of course I am, but…" Tamora said, but was interrupted as he continued.

"And what about Michi? Her lungs are as bad as Reise's, and down here will f-" Keith said at the same time as Tamora growled,

"Keith."

Keith immediately quietened, and ducked his head.

"We are _not _going to fix anything by panicking," Tamora continued coolly. "Kalypso is very strong, but even she will suffer if the both of you go charging up there so quickly. And then you'll both be injured and we're really going to have to work at this mini-hospital thing."

He opened his mouth, but another voice cut in,

"Just keep calm, Keith. We all need to work together, so we can all get out together."

Remni started, and looked to her left where another trainer had suck up. It was Anna, the tall, willowy trainer from earlier. Since the discussion, she had tied her mint green hair back into a ponyta-tail. Her eyes were dark as she stared at Keith, and she continued when he met her eyes. "Michi is a very capable adult and she knows her limits. It's not Tamora's responsibility to look after her, nor yours to look after Reise. You need to trust that we can all take care of ourselves."

Keith quietly muttered, "…Okay. Sure, Anna."

Anna nodded at Remni, and drifted off towards where Shyanne the metagross hovered and glowed pink.

Keith slowly unballed his fists and sighed deeply. Remni breathed with him to try and mask her own rough exhale. He looked up and saw her, and gave an embarrassed little wave.

"Sorry you had to see that," he said apologetically, and Reise spun to look at her as well. "I…uh, just kinda don't do that well with-"

"You got _told,_" someone else said gleefully.

Remni jerked for probably the third time in about ten minutes. Now on her right stood the black-haired stranger, Mich, who had disappeared up the far wall early. Her unnaturally bright crimson eyes glittered even in the weak light of the Flash attack, and her smile was little more than bared teeth. "You causing trouble, Keith?" she asked innocently.

"Michi!" Tamora scolded. "Stop trying to start fights!"

'_Oops,_' Remni thought to herself, and mentally corrected the other trainer's name in her head. In hindsight, it was more obvious that Anna had called her friend by a nickname. Remni instantly felt awkward- the four were obviously very familiar with each other, and with every new interaction she felt more and more like an outsider. This small fight seemed intimate and personal, and she unconsciously took another step back.

Tamora's eyes darted to her, and she said, "Great, and you've freaked Remni out. We need her help, _Michi_."

"Stop fucking scolding me like I'm a kid!" Michi snarled, and her eyes drifted over to Remni's. Her glance was basically a glare, and Remni ducked her head as the other girl turned her body fully to face her. "Hey, ignore our shit, do whatever you want," she said. Michi reached out with one hand.

Remni froze, unsure of how to react, but the girl had already tapped a finger under her chin to force her head back up.

Tamora made a strange noise in her throat, and Remni immediately realised how close Michi was. The tip of one of the other trainer's hiking boots poked just between her own two feet, her arm was bent at nearly 45 degrees between them where it touched Remni's chin. She could see the dark black lines that extended into the crimson of her eyes. They were all symmetrical, and even- some longer and some shorter but all following a clear pattern. Remni cleared her throat, and backed up straight into Tamora, who apologised and stepped to the side.

Michi laughed. It was loud and rough. She waved at them with one hand and walked off.

"What...what was that?" Remni asked, looking helplessly to Tamora (who was still staring after her retreating red-eyed aggressor) and Keith and Reise, who were sneaking strange looks at each other. "And what's with your friends and sneaking up on people?!"

"Michi likes to…mess with people," Tamora finally said, sounding strained. "Don't worry too much about it. We need to get started on this."

"Alright," Reise said. "Remni. Based on what we already know, here's what you should do."

Half an hour later, Remni crouched on Quil's back with one arm around the skarmory's neck and the other at the base of her wings.

Quil cawed softly, then clicked her beak.

"What's wrong?" Remni asked. She craned her neck to the side to look at the skarmory's eye, but Quil was resolutely looking forward. She clicked her beak again, then lowered her head to the ground and tapped the underside of her beak on the ground. Remni's eyebrows furrowed as Quil looked up at her, then tapped her jaw on the ground again.

"I'm sorry Quil, I don't understand?" Remni asked. "You're worried about something…to do with the ground? It survived us and the train hitting it, I'm sure it's stable? And none of the psychic-types sensed anything strange around?"

Quil squawked and dove forwards. She immediately started disturbing the dirt with her beak.

Remni tightened her grip as the steel bird hopped forward from foot to foot.

The skarmory suddenly paused and leaned up, blinking.

Remni hesitantly leaned off-balance to look Quil in the eye when the skarmory turned her head and leaned forward. In her beak was a large, round rock. Remni held out her hand, and Quil dropped the rock onto it. She cupped her hand to keep it from falling, and the skarmory leaned down to gouge to holes on the front. Two holes. Remni turned the hole side towards her.

It suddenly clicked.

"Oh!" Remni exclaimed, then clapped a hand over her forehead and said, "I'm an idiot, sorry Quil. Victus is fine! He's in his ball. I didn't want to stress him out by bringing him out into this mess, I was going to wait until later when we all settled down and knew what was going on."

Quil's eyes glinted as she tilted her head back to consider it, then she flicked her beak and smacked the rock away. It rolled into the gloom, and Quil cawed loudly, but with a crooning undertone.

Remni reached out and scratched underneath the skarmory's beak until her eyes went half-lidded. "You ready to go?" she asked.

The steel/flying-type blinked twice, then nodded jerkily and leant down low over the ground.

Remni tightened the grip her thighs had on the skarmory's side, as well as that of both her arms.

Quil gathered energy into her wings, then bore down with them and pushed off of the ground with her legs at the same time, then beat her wings furiously. The combined jump-and-wing-attack gave her the propulsion she needed to start flying.

All flying types had a different method of taking to the air, and Quil's heavy, steel-coated body needed a bit more strength than the average pokémon. Her method was much more similar to the huge dragon-type species whose limbs weren't made for run-ups, but had enough stout, powerful muscles to launch themselves upwards. What strength she didn't have in her legs, she made up for with her wings and flying-type attacks. It had been hard to choose between her and Tanner to start, but ultimately, the tunnel above them was much narrower at the bottom where they were than further up, and it wouldn't have worked well with the naturally circular way that the togekiss flew.

"Besides," Reise had said. "We need your togekiss to light up the area above as well light up what she cannot reach. An Aura Sphere attack would work well."

It felt like they flew for ages. Quil's body was warm beneath her, and she could tell by the way the motions of her wings were beginning to become more jerky that the skarmory was beginning to tire. They had only been flying for five or so minutes, but only well-trained and practised flyers could travel straight up for longer than fifteen minutes. When they began to slow, Remni dragged her knuckles down Quil's neck to coax her to slow down more. The skarmory leaped several more feet, before careening towards one of the walls and scoring it deeply with her claws. Narsh, who had just been released by Remni, lit the area with a Flash attack and psychically pressed a mass of dripping, dark red berries against into the marks to emphasize them. The gardevoir nodded when the berries finally stopped dripping juice, and Remni pressed the button to return Keith's pokémon. The pink energy surrounding the berries disappeared, and they dropped like a stone. Remni tucked the pokéball away, and opened another one.

'_Jump. I will catch you,_' Carrow murmured psychically, and Remni leapt towards him. Psychic energy curled around her torso and behind her knees before she even left Quil's back, but it tightened as she neared. With her feet dangling, her heartbeat began to pick up as she reached out and felt nothing. The abyss gaped beneath her, slightly lighter from to a single Flash attack from a previous flyer. In seconds, Quil vanished into her pokéball which Remni tucked away securely. She fumbled with her jacket pocket and unearth another pokéball, but did not open it. Carrow slowly levitated them up through the air, and sent out thin, pale blasts of psychic energy that felt like a breeze against her skin and slowly spread out like a ripple into the darkness above them. After a few moments, they Teleported up into the darkness, then he sent out another ripple. This went on for several minutes, but Remni was too distracted by how weightless she felt at the height and the disorientation from the constant Teleporting to count them or check her pokétch.

'…_Alright,_' he said after another long moment.

Remni released Tanner, who spun to get her bearings then chirped. Carrow lowered Remni down onto the togekiss' back, and she dug her fingers into Tanner's feathers. She gripped them tightly, but the togekiss didn't react.

'_Release me again when Tanner tires,_' Carrow instructed, and opened his pokéball on his own. Remni fumbled it and nearly had a heart attack.

Next, out came Narsch again. The gardevoir marked the wall, dropped another crop of berries without a word and returned.

The walls around them stretched on endlessly. Occasionally Remni could see minor variance in the grooves in the wall, different coloured patches where stone met soil met earth met stone again. The area above them was a gaping, impenetrable void and the area below them was the same, if a little lighter. She imagined the darkness below cleared away, imagined a straight, steep drop and almost a dozen trainers in a group looking back up at her. Of course, logically she knew that they weren't all just hanging around staring up. Keith and Reise were still incorporating new information into the map they'd created, Tamora was recruiting other flyers to help them, Anna was directing and organising each group- the tent-raisers, the small 'hospital' and other stranglers. The tall trainer had the same steady tone as her metagross, and seem to have a knack for leadership even amongst her group of friends, who unconsciously deferred to her. Even Michi, who had snapped at Tamora, teased Reise and scolded Keith had patiently watched Anna, not interrupting like she had several times with the others.

As she and Tanner climbed into the air, she wondered about the dynamic of the group. Typical groups of trainers were between two and five, and most were good friends or acquaintances if they weren't pushed together by frazzled and desperate professors for strange tasks. Each person had the same amount of influence in the group, would deliberate together and respected each other's opinions enough to work together. And while most of that group did see on the same level, when Anna stepped up to speak they all let her speak for them. Arguably, in the large group it was because her psychic type- Shyanne the metagross- had been greatly involved in what happened. But so was Neutronus the exeggutor, and Eliana had barely spoken to the group. Remni hadn't even known her name until Shyanne the metagross listed them!

'_Do you think it's a Johto thing?_' she asked Carrow curiously.

'_Is what a Johto thing?_' he replied, sounding distracted.

'_Having like…power hierarchies in a group of friends,_' she explained.

'_Among friends? No._' he answered. '_Among trainers? Maybe.'_

'_Yeah?_'

'_Most training teams are built on power hierarchies- that of the trainer over the pokémon. It would be easier for that to leak into their relationships with other humans._'

'_I guess so…_'

They both lapsed into silence as Tanner climbed. She was speedier than Quil, but also had more stamina. The togekiss was able to climb steeply for ten minutes even with the weight of adult human clutched to her back. Finally, even she began to flag. The steady rhythm of her wings became faster though they didn't travel as far. Remni lightly tugged on Tanner's feather to encourage her to level out, then released Carrow.

He scooped his trainer up by bunching psychic energy behind her knees and shoulders 'bridal style'. She squirmed when it pressed against the tender skin of her back.

Tanner bared her teeth, then spat a glowing Aura Sphere straight up above them. It lit the surrounding tunnel up with a pale blue glow, though it sparked neon at its core. It travelled for several metres, growing smaller and dimmer but not going out until it burst on contact with a wall of rock.

Debris fell and Carrow jerked Remni, himself and Tanner away from the middle, flattening them against the wall to avoid the shards of rock and dust. Narsh appeared next after Remni fumbled open the pokéball. Both the gardevoir and the claydol reached for the falling rock at the same time, and it exploded into a cloud of dirt and pink and purple energy. One of his eyes rotated to nail the gardevoir with a hard look, but Narsh was watching the slowly falling dust. After a few seconds, the gardevoir completed the marks, Carrow came up with an estimate of the remaining distance, and Remni returned everyone but the claydol.

'_Ready?_' he asked. His grip on her shoulders shifted, not to hold her properly but to warn her, and she nodded. He nodded back, rocking her from side to side and she laughed. With a series of quick Teleports, he followed the path he and Narsh marked back down to the cavern floor.

On the group, the three trainers with the charizard stood around Reise, occasionally calling out points about their trip. His eyes were narrowed and his eyebrows were furrowed, and he nodded distractedly as he tapped furiously at his tablet.

Carrow slowly tilted her vertically, then let her step out of the psychic embrace. Her legs felt wobbly and she immediately went down on one knee. Psychic energy brushed lightly over her shoulder but she shook her head. "I'm fine, Carrow," she said, voice croaking from disuse. She sat down and stretched her legs in front of her to try and ease the tension in the muscles. "Can you take Narsch and go over and tell Reise what we found out?"

'_Hmm…alright. Tamora is walking over to us, I'll do it if you tell her I want to speak with Neutronus,_' he replied, then floated off. Remni kept her eyes on her knees and continued to stretch. The light from several different Flash attacks was nearly blinding after all the time spent in the dark. Remni closed her eyes and rubbed at her eyelids to try and ease the sting.

"Hi," Tamora greeted. She knelt down in front of Remni, and looked sympathetic when Remni blinked at her. "Bright down here, isn't it?"

"It's…a bit much after the whole void-" she waved her hand at the darkness above them, "-up there."

Tamora nodded. "How did it go? Narsch looked pleased," she added.

Remni glanced over towards where she last saw Reise. The group of four had expanded to let Carrow and Narsch stand amongst them, side by side. Carrow gestured jerkily with his stubby arms. The gardevoir glowed pink, but did not move. Other than that, she did not seem very different from before.

Tamora followed her gaze and laughed quietly. "I can tell because I've known Narsch for a while, don't worry about it."

"Okay?" Remni said, but was too tired to ask and open up a new line of questioning. "I think it went well. Quil and Tanner are pretty tired, but I think we found the ceiling."

"Oh!" Tamora said, and her eyes lit up. "That's very good. Thank you for helping out."

Remni bit her lip. "We're all trapped down here, its…uhh…beneficial to me too."

"I know," Tamora replied. "But with the way Anna kind of…took charge, I thought that some people might be thinking that we would do all the work."

"Well," Remni said. She thought about the way that the tall girl had commanded everyone's attention with ease, given out directions like she was born to do it and that everyone had just…listened. "Is she…always like that?" Remni asked hesitantly.

Tamora laughed again, this time louder and somewhat rougher. "Yeah. Gods, we wish she didn't sometime. It's just how her parents raised her." She sighed, then said, "Anyway, we need to have a meeting in a minute. See if everyone's going well." She stood up, and extending a hand politely.

Remni looked at it and briefly entertained the idea of leaping to her feet with ease and proving her strength as a trainer, or something stupid like that. But Tamora's smile was small and seemingly sincere, and her own legs felt like jelly. She gratefully reached out. Tamora's hands were dry and kinda smooth, but warm under hers. Her grip was firm and she stepped back steadily to pull Remni to her feet, putting none of the strain on the other girl. "Thanks," Remni said, and nodded gratefully. "Oh, and could you maybe ask Eliana if it's alright if Carrow speaks to Neutronus?"

"Sure."

Neutronus and Shyanne were rounding people up via psychic announcements, which started people moving but didn't have a lot of order. Remni saw Michi, the trainer that had scaled the wall earlier with her infernape. She had jumped up onto a rock and started shouting. It startled people enough and moved them into a shaky circle around the rock. The girl cocked her hip and lay her hand on it while she surveyed them, before she nodded and hopped down.

Tamora laughed again, this one breathier and melodious. It was sweeter and more genuine than the last two times Remni had heard her laugh. She and Tamora picked up their pace to join the circle.

This conversation went the same as the earlier one- random trainers called out around the room until everyone heard and understood what was happening. Anna controlled the flow of the conversation, Keith played mediator and even the man who had spent most of the last time yelling angrily- Bryan- assisted in making sure any plans or ideas were airtight. They'd verbally mapped out the biggest area away from the overhead tunnel as the sleeping area and marked out enough room for everyone to put out a tent or sleeping bag, someone had begun digging deep holes for toilets and others had created shallow rivers in the harder rock and used their water-types to fill them. A makeshift hospital, which somehow had been dubbed 'The Nursey' had been set up between the camping area and the rivers. When Remni whispered a question about it to Eti, the brunette had made a show of shrugging and rolling her eyes in the universal gesture of 'you know how it is'. Another group of trainers had decided to build a small garden- they got different pokémon to use a mild Flash attack to light the area, and a combination of water and grass-types to feed and water them. Some of the fastest-growing berry trees had already sprouted.

"It kinda clears up that whole trainers vs civilians on a shipwreck situation, doesn't it?" Tamora murmured.

Remni perked up. "That issue with those Kantonese psychologists? I thought that was over?"

Tamora snorted. "They were very invested in their theories- I don't think they ever really let it go."

"Now that I think about it, I can't really remember how that started," Remni replied. Tamora's words had an air of finality to them, but Remni found she wanted to keep the conversation going.

"Hmm," Tamora murmured. "It was when all those books about marooned sailors and crashed planes came out, I think. A few years ago, less than five. After they found that child on Cinnabar Island that had been raised by the wild pokémon," she explained. "I think that, after they released that journal article about how trainers would survive and civilians wouldn't, they stayed out of the conflict that came after."

Remni nodded, and bit her lip. It had been a heated debate, and furthered a divide between trainers and civilians in Kanto. One of the most quoted lines from the article had been, "A group of trainers would have a functioning civilisation before the sun even set, while any civilian would already have been eaten by wild growlithe." It was a bit long, so the ensuing articles, late night TV shows and online retaliation often had shortened parts. Sometimes the start, sometimes the end. But always from that sentence. No one who lived in a major city could get away without having it burned onto their eyes in those few months. Remni shook her head to clear it, and tried to focus back on the group discussion.

The four trainers who had spearheaded the 'reach the ceiling' mission (Reise, Carver, Holly and Dean) tossed Reise's tablet between them as they tried to explain the situation to the group. The ceiling was far, about thirteen to fifteen kilometres straight up and couldn't be reached without a significant amount of effort. They couldn't tell how thick the rock was, or how large the gap was between the surface and the ceiling of the tunnel. They were essentially stuck until a rescue party came for them.

"It's probably a good idea to severely limit the number of pokémon that you have running around. Our oxygen supply is probably limited, as are our resources. We shouldn't risk de-stabilising the ground further," Anna said.

After that, people broke off into groups to continue to talk. Remni was glad that Carrow had relayed everything they knew to the rest of her pokémon, because she was too tired to drag them all out, explain everything then put them away again. Speculation on the fall continued into the night. Remni curled up in her sleeping bag in her and Eti's tent, and pressed her back against the brunette's, seeking comfort. Eti sleepily pressed back and sleepily babbled something, but fell asleep against almost instantly.

The next day, at least, according to their watches, was more of the same. The flights up through the tunnel fell to one every few hours, and eventually stopped throughout the afternoon. Several hand drawn copies of maps went up on the wall closest to the sleeping area, and more gardens sprung up as people tried to turn their minds from a dark, claustrophobic death. Everyone seemed to work well together. Remni spent most of the day following Eti around and dreaming up excuses to visit Tamora's group. She didn't find one.

Another night passed. Remni moved her sleeping bag out of her and Eti's tent and cover to the edge of the group. When she wasn't memorising the maps or pulling mini-shifts at the nursery and gardens, she and Victus dug out a hole in the group a few feet from the sleeping bag. Asio supervised them while Quil rested. It took much longer than it should have, because they were trying to conserve energy. Every hour that passed after they began filled Remni with guilt, but eventually it was a few feet long and deep enough for Nikko the sharpedo to submerge himself. He thrashed excitedly, splashing some of the up onto the ground around them. After a few minutes of circling, he settled in so that the water just reached the bottom of his eyes. Remni stripped off her long pants and exchanged them for shorts, then dangled her legs in the water. He brushed forward against them, but lightly so that his rough skin wouldn't tear her own. In between jobs she found her way back and sat with him, occasionally reading stories that she'd archived on her pokétch aloud to him or Asio, or lying back on the ground to nap.

During one of these times, Asio had leapt to her feet so suddenly that it woke Remni up. She jumped up and jerked around, and winced when Nikko gnashed his teeth.

"Sorry!" a familiar voice yelped. A few feet away and with both hands up and palm-out stood Keith. His blonde hair had been tied back underneath a bandanna, but his blue eyes were downcast and he ducked his head.

Beside her, Asio snorted and stomped the ground hard.

"It's okay," Remni crooned to her pokémon. She saw Keith jerk his head up in her peripheral vision, and stroked Asio's flank soothingly. "It's alright, Keith. Don't…uh… sneak up on a trainer and their pokémon." she said.

He laughed, but it was hollow. "Crap, yeah, I know…Sorry. That was really stupid. I got distracted."

Remni suddenly heard the splashing, and turned around.

In the pond, Nikko snapped his jaws open and closed, and struggled to move up onto the dirt.

"Nikko!" she cried out. "It's alright!" She dove to one knee and planted one palm against the end of his nose and one on top of his pectoral fin.

He stilled under her touch, and let her coo and push him back into the water.

"This is Keith," she said when the sharpedo finally submerged himself to his eyes again. "He's a…friend."

She turned around to see him dramatically wiping sweat off of his forehead, and she huffed out a laugh.

"I'm so sorry!" he said, catching Asio's eyes, then turned to try and get the sharpedo's attention. The stantler stared down her nose at him for several long moments, then turned her back on him and lay back down by Nikko's pond.

"She's pretty proud, you might have to do a bit more than that to win her over," Remni explained when Keith's expression drooped.

Nikko slapped a fin at the water's surface and splashed the blond.

"Hey! Okay, I deserved that," he said gloomily.

"What're you- what're you doing over here?" she asked.

"I…uh…" He scratched his head. "Anna assigned me to bread-making, but I'm still pretty terrible at it. I wanted to ask if you maybe wanted to help?" he asked, then quickly added, "Oh, only if you're not busy though!"

"Uh…" Remni said, and trailed off. "Hang on." She turned back to the pond and knelt down. "Nikko, you gonna be okay on your own for a while?"

The sharpedo drifted towards the edge, then wiggled up and laid his jaw down on the ground, and opened it.

She reached into her pocket and pulled out two blue berries and some dried, meat treats from a packet and dropped them on his tongue, then rubbed the top of his nose when he closed his mouth. "Want anything else?" she asked.

He opened his mouth and lightly closed his teeth over her hand and her heart jumped. In her mind's eye, his sharp teeth bit through bone and sinew and ground into her wrist. She blinked the mental imagine away, and focussed on the very light, very careful worrying of her fingers. They'd been together for a long time. He didn't want to hurt her and she knew it. She hated those violent thoughts. After a few seconds he let go, and she brushed her fingertips over his nose as he submerged himself. Asio lifted her head and bayed lowly, and Remni bowed obediently and pressed a kiss to the stantler's cheek.

"Alright," she said as she turned around. "Lemme grab Carrow and my bag. Where are we cooking?"

A few square metres of ground had been piled with other metal boxes from other trainers, as well as some other trashed metal to melt down and re-purpose.

"Okay." Keith sighed. "Let's get turn this cookout going!"

That took up the rest of the day.

That night the trainers all gathered in their own groups to eat together. Cassidy and Wren joined them for a little while, but Fiona was off with new friends.

"Keeping more than four people together is kinda difficult, isn't it?" Eti asked after Cassidy and Wren excused themselves. They were both as polite as before, and their company didn't feel stilted. The departure felt natural and smooth, which made it worse.

"Some people just don't mesh," Alexei said.

Remni thought about Anna's group. Tamora, Keith, Reise, the leader herself, Michi and Eliana. Six people always together, always functional despite any dispute. "Yeah," she replied.

Risa glanced in her direction, and opened her mouth. Then immediately snapped it shut again when someone shouted.

"You think you can just control everyone?!" someone was yelling.

A harsh snarled noise echoed off of the rocks, but someone else was already talking over them.

"We're not playing conquer the fucking wilds, douchebag."

"No! You're just directly every single little thing that goes on! Wanna tell us how to wipe our asses too?!"

"Considering you're such a moron, it might be necessary."

"Fuck you!"

Remni leaped up as she heard the second voice. A number of other trainers, still with food in their hands, had looked towards the commotion.

A dozen or so metres from the nearest tent stood several people; a trainer Remni didn't recognise standing on their own and gesturing wildly, Michi standing in front of him with her fists clenched, and Tamora, Keith and Reise a little way behind her.

A trainer with yellow-blond hair and a sandslash stepped away from the watching trainers, cupped their hands around their mouth and yelled, "Brandon, bro, this is dumb. Stop picking fights!"

"Fuck you, traitor!" the trainer spit back, then turned to glare at Michi. "You think just because you beat my brother that I'm just going to roll over for you?"

"Fucking- Brandon! Stop being an idiot!" the other trainer yelled again.

"Shut the fuck up, Leigh!"

'Leigh' seemed to hesitate, then jogged over to where the two were standing off against each other. He took a step towards his brother, then was immediately shoved away. Michi stepped by as if he wasn't even there, and the trainer stepped over to Tamora, Keith and Reise. She half-turned to look at him as he moved.

'Brandon' sneered something that Remni didn't hear, but Tamora froze, and Michi whirled on the guy like a hurricane. "Alright shitface, congrats; that's where I draw the line. You're not worth my or anyone else here's time. But you're a troublemaking idiot and I'm gonna put you in your place right now," she said.

"You and what army? I've seen you battle, you're not that strong," he snarled. He was practically vibrating in place.

Michi rolled her shoulders back. "My pokémon were holding back against your brother. We won't do the same for you. I bet you I can take your entire team out with just one of mine."

He clenched and unclenched his fists, then stepped forward right into Michi's face and yelled, "You fucker! I hope you're prepared to watch your pokémon _die._"

Remni turned to stare at Tamora, silently asking for answers, but the other girl kept her gaze on her friend.

Michi jerked forward and punched him square in the nose. He cried out and flailed at her, but she grabbed him by the front of his shirt and dragged him forward, tearing it in the process. "Listen here you _fucking_ idiot. You don't threaten someone's _team_. I could bury you in the ground right now!" she hissed the last few words and bared her teeth. "...But that won't prove anything. So let's fight."

He jerked and pulled away, tearing the rest of his shirt. He began backing up to give them room.

Michi threw the scrap of cloth onto the floor and sighed, then muttered under her breath, "Don't 'violence isn't the answer' me, Tamora."

Tamora didn't say anything. She only nodded.

This wasn't a normal fight. No money would be exchanged, just pride. No one stepped up to referee. The other trainer threw out a pokéball and a hitmonlee appeared.

On Michi's side, a green dragon materialised. The other trainer froze.

"Go, Blitz!" Michi called.

A huge, light green dragon erupted from the red light and flapped into the air. Its wings were tipped with dark green, and it had stripes of the same colour all the way down its tail, as well as spikes of the same colour. It hovered several feet above its trainer, then roared. Even though it was a dragon-type, and even though it hung far above her, it looked huge. The flygon flapped it's wings harshly to send down waves of air. The fighting-type was thrown back, and rolled along the ground passed its trainer.

The poliwrath that showed up next launched a thin Ice Beam that missed entirely and froze a section of the wall. Blitz brought stones out of the dirt and threw them, then took another ice beam to the wing. She dropped altitude, landing in a hover. The trainer called out cockily, and the water-type approached.

Blitz' tail flew forward like a thunderbolt and glowed green, and the poliwrath collapsed. Fed by the energy obtain from her Giga Drain attack, Blitz took to the air again, almost fully healed.

The magmortar that came next leapt into the air, but was smacked back down by a hail of rocks. Blitz threw another Rock Slide before it even hit the ground, and it was recalled.

Next came a huge pidgeot. It flew directly at the flygon, who dodged beneath it. Michi had yet to even call a command.

"Knock it the fuck down!" Brandon screamed in a frenzy.

The pidgeot hung in the air for a second, before diving after the ground/dragon-type. For several long moments they simple chased each other. Blitz looped back on its long body to twist the pidgeot up in circles. Both seemed reluctant to properly attack.

"Hyper Beam!" Brandon yelled.

"Tail Smack," Michi said coolly.

The flygon twisted up like a yo-yo, then whipped its tail out and slapped the normal/flying-type across the room. It hit its trainer hard in the chest, and both fell over. Blitz returned to the ground.

Out next was a steelix. It roared in challenge. The flygon barely blinked before shooting a blast of fire out of its mouth. The Flamethrower attack encased the rock/steel-type for three long, horrifying seconds in which molten metal fell to the floor, then Brandon scrambled for its pokéball and returned it.

In less than ten minutes, the huge green dragon had taken out five-sixths of the stranger's team with only moderate effort. Michi was still glaring him down and had both fists clenched. But her shoulders had relaxed into a sloping line.

In contrast, the other trainer just got angrier. He swore several times before spitting an insult and throwing a final pokéball. The red energy that emerged appeared in more of a plume than a cloud, and light pink petals fell like rain as an orange dragon appeared.

Blitz the flygon roared and dived directly for it. Purple flames welled up in its mouth, and exploded outwards and bathed the still-adjusting dragonite in dragon fire. It roared and dived out of the flames, then twisted away. The flygon chased the dragonite all over the cavern, before finally pinning it against a wall and blasting it with a Dragon Rage again.

Brandon returned it before it hit the ground, flipped Michi off and stalked away.

His brother, Leigh, ran up to Michi and began talking to her. He didn't immediately get kicked away and Tamora sighed.

The flygon turned tail, flew back over to its trainer and lowered itself onto the ground. Remni watched as Michi reached up and touched the dragon-type's head.

"Anna and Michi are the strongest out of our group," Tamora muttered to Remni. "Michi is…pretty proud of demonstrating it."

"I…I can't believe he threatened to kill her pokémon!" Remni whisper-yelled back. "That's…"

Tamora nodded. "I'm glad she punched him, but I'm also glad that everyone here is a trainer, because they'll understand. Civilians might turn against her, or us."

Remni glanced back at the rest of the group. Most were talking amongst themselves, quieter than they had been before the fight. Some watched Michi quietly, and others stared at where Brandon retreated, shaking their heads. She looked around for Risa, and flinched when she saw the utterly disgusted look on her friend's face.

"Are you okay?" Tamora asked.

"Yeah, I'm-I'm fine," she answered, then glanced helplessly between Risa and Tamora. Risa started to walk over to where Michi still stood with her flygon when Eti ran up and linked their arms. "I should probably go check on my friend. See you later," she murmured. Remni jogged off towards her other two friends.

* * *

_Author's Notes: Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeef. Anyway. I'm not super happy with this chapter so I might come back later and revise it. Here it is for now! Sorry if the battles are a little slow or vague, there hasn't been a lot of opportunity for me to be comfortable spending a lot of time on them. But there definitely will be later! Remni, Eti, Alexei and Risa are all pretty keen to fight the gyms, so that's a thing that'll definitely be happening, and Ill try to make them more…cinematic? _

_Please review! I'm desperate to know what people think of my writing, the characters (human and pokémon) and the beginnings of the plot! We'll see more about the issues in Hoenn in the next chapter, including a specific example. This one was also mainly transition and exposition._

**Team Lists-**

**Remni**\- **Carrow** (claydol), **Jackal** (luxray), **Nikko** (sharpedo), **Quil** (skarmory), **Asio** (stantler), **Tanner** (togekiss).

**Alexei**\- **Wisteria** (staraptor), **Cineraria** (luxray), **Lilium** (roserade), **Lotus** (golduck), (weavile), (hippowdon).

**Eti**\- **Detonate [Nate]** (magnezone), **Ricochet [Ric]** (rampardos), **Deadshot [De]** (lucario), (kricketune), **Backlash [Lassie] **(floatzel), **Emanate [Em] **(alakazam).

**Risa**\- **Twit** (abomasnow), **Denno** (crobat), **Renna** (rapidash), **Annushka** (gyarados), **Leila **(mismagius), **Tar **(rhyperior).

**Cassidy**\- **Arrow** (banette), (swampert), (shiftry), (masquerain), (aggron), (electabuzz).

**Fiona**\- (kirlia), (sceptile), (altaria), (swalot), (magneton), (armaldo).

**Wren**\- (blaziken), (linoone), **Adeline** (gardevoir), (mightyena), (flygon), (walrein).


	8. Chapter Eight

_Author's Notes: Thank you so much to St Elmo's Fire and Negrek for the reviews! They were both very helpful, and prompted a full overhaul of this entire fic! All of the chapters have been re-read and re-edited, and a lot of the unimportant parts have been cut. Also, some of the future chapters will be shorter. _

_In an effort to keep from running off on tangents constantly and be a bit more accessible, I'm going to try to keep them around 8k words, maybe less if it's not a busy chapter, maybe more if there's a lot going on. Anyway, thank you so much for reading TWCKY!_

* * *

"It's alright," Eti said softly.

Risa clenched her fists, and stared down the tunnel where Brandon disappeared. Her lips were visibly white where she'd bitten down on them. She spun back to face Eti and Remni and said, "That asshole! You don't threaten another person's… Does he even know…?" she paused and growled under her breath, then continued, "I want to punch him."

"Risa, it's really not a good idea to start fights down here," Eti said placatingly. She tried to catch Risa's eye, but the other girl wouldn't look at her.

Remni and Eti shared a look. The both knew that they had to stop Risa from going and attacking Brandon, even if he deserved it. "Michi already beat him," Remni replied, holding out the words like an offering. "She'd uh…probably be angry if someone else got involved," she said nervously.

Risa rolled her eyes towards Remni and asked, "You met her?"

"Yeah, just for a few minutes. She hangs around with the people that were flying up to the roof," she answered.

"Huh…" She was silent for a long moment, then the tense line of her shoulders eased into a slump, and Remni let out a breath. "I'm gonna go after her," Risa said. She patted Eti's shoulder, then Remni's, then turned back to the cavern and jogged off.

Remni stared after her while she disappeared into the gloom, then jerked when a flash of red light lit up her vision. The red faded into a light orange glow. Renna the rapidash now stood by Risa, lighting up a few square metres. It slowly faded as they moved down the tunnel.

"Hey…How are you doing?" Eti asked, breaking her reverie. She tipped her head to the side again and smiled gently.

"I'm…" Remni stopped and thought about it for a second. "I'm okay. Everything's still a little sore from the crash. I wish my team could stay out, but I understand that it's not really practical. I'm not…worried about being stuck down here though. I think we'll be fine until we get rescued or something," she answered, and felt like she had babbled. "How are you doing?"

"I feel very claustrophobic down here," Eti admitted, and crossed her arms and gripped them tightly. "But…I agree. I think we'll be fine. I am worried about not doing our jobs, though."

"Oh yeah!" Remni exclaimed. "I…wow I forgot about that with how busy things have been. Did you want to go train for a bit? Nothing huge, just a mock battle or something?"

"Sure, I'd like that," Eti replied and smiled again. It wavered just a little, and Remni's smile dropped.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Remni asked. She reached out and laid her hand on Eti's shoulder comfortingly.

"I just…I'm…" She visibly struggled for several seconds, then sighed. "I just want to do something. Can we just go train together? Nothing strenuous, I just need to do something."

Remni squeezed Eti's shoulder, then nodded. "Sure. Carrow says I have to go to the nursery to get my back checked, is it alright if we go there quickly?"

Eti smiled in affirmation, and the two of them walked towards where the 'nursery' had been set up.

The trainers that worked in the nursery had used tent poles to create a 'room' or sorts, and draped clear plastic over the edges. Inside, thin blankets were used to create curtained-off rooms on one side, while the other was made up of flat rocks covered in camping bowls. The bowls were chock full of medical supplies- wrapped gauze, sachets of saline solution and bottles and packages of different brands of painkillers. One of the attendants directed Remni behind a curtain, and she dumped her bag on a waist-high rock and pulled off her jacket, shirt and bra. The attendant had a light, cool touch, and carefully examined the mass of scabs along the skin of her back. They used an antibacterial wipe to clean the dirt, then patted-dry her skin with a clean towel. A few of the of the opened cuts were dabbed with another cool solution, then covered with a small Band-Aid to keep out dirt.

"Make sure to air out your skin, and be careful of tight-fitting clothes. They may chafe the scabs and re-open the wounds. Is there anything else?" asked the attendant, kindly.

Remni tugged her shirt back over her head, then jokingly asked, "Got anything for nightmares?"

That earned her a light laugh. "Ah, nothing in a bottle I'm afraid. I do have a few dream charms, would you like one?" They offered their own wrist as an example, where a bright pink string was tied and hung with a number of small feathers and beads.

"Oh!" Remni exclaimed, recognising the charm. "You're from Sinnoh?"

The attendant's cheeks coloured. "Ah, yes! Sort of?" They smiled politely, still business-like. "Both my parents were born there, apparently, but I'm a Hoenn girl. I live with my mother Slateport City. My… birth parents have another daughter, and she sends me stuff."

"Oh, wow. Umm, have you ever been there?" Remni asked politely. The tan skin and bright eyes of the attendant were a dead giveaway for a native Sinnohan heritage, but Hoennites were much darker. In the half-light of the cave, Remni had mistook her for the latter. When the other girl said 'apparently', Remni guessed she was adopted from a Sinnohan adoption agency. She didn't want to be rude and act like you had to live in Sinnoh, but she was curious.

"Ah, haha, no I actually haven't." The attendant slumped. "I guess I don't really count then?"

Remni rubbed the back of her hand across her mouth. "I don't know…if anyone but you can say if you belong or not. My mother is a native Sinnohan, but my dad's Kantonese." She shrugged like it didn't matter, but her head dipped. "It's a little awkward for me- my mum's siblings all have kids with other people that were born in Sinnoh. My cousin says I don't really count either."

"I see…" The attendant sighed. "I think…I think it has to be something you decide for yourself. At least you have your mum." She smiled. "My name is Vola, by the way."

"That's a nice name! I'm…Remni."

"Oh, Alvern? You're a breeder's kid?" Vola asked curiously.

"Yeah! You should…uh…come visit Sinnoh one day. Even just to see what it's like. There are some cool places, and a lot of people that can teach you about charms and stuff. Not that your sister isn't, but there's a lot of different charms and different ways of using them. Most of Sinnoh is very religious…" she trailed off, thinking about the altars to the deities of space and time. There was at least one in each town, but also some at midway points along the main routes. "Come by the farm, I'll... show you around."

"That sounds really cool, thanks Remni!" Vola grinned, and this time was toothy and real.

Remni felt herself smiling back in response. "After this is all over."

"For sure."

Vola ended up checking her joints for any strain, then gave her a capsule with a few pale green pills inside. "They aren't like... proper drugs. They're just medicinal herbs from Fallarbour Town, but they've always helped me relax. Maybe they'll help you sleep?"

"Thank you! It'll be nice to relax, anyway," Remi reassured her.

Vola pushed the curtain aside and they walked outside.

Eti was still talking with another attendant, but broke off the conversation and trotted over at the sight of her friend.

"Thanks for your help," Remni said, looking back to Vola.

"No problem. See you around!"

Eti linked their arms and tugged Remni towards one of the smaller tunnels that came off of the main cavern. Her steps were steady, but her eyes were half-closed. She looked tired.

The air was the insidious kind of cool that lowered so slowly in temperature that you wouldn't notice until you felt your own skin. Remni scratched an itch on her chin, and winced as her nerves lit up with the cold.

"Jacket," she and Eti said at the same time, and laughed.

As they wandered further down the narrow tunnel, the noises from the other trainers slowly faded. In the distance they could hear an echoing drip-drip-drip noise. Further down, the path bulged outwards like an ekans that had swallowed a soccer ball. Eti dropped a pokéball and released Nate, who stayed still as she leant bonelessly against him. The static running along his body made her hair stand on end, but she didn't move. Remni turned away to give them a private moment. When she turned back, the brunette had one hand over one of his magnets and the other loose at her side. They kept walking.

The magnezone moved slightly faster than them, and Eti let him go so that he could float back and forth. He inspected the dirt on either side of the tunnel. The circle of light that made up his Flash attack swept back and forth over the ground as he moved.

Remni released Quil, fed her a handful of berries to build her strength up, then let Victus out beside her. The trapinch snapped his jaws together in interest, and began nosing and snuffling at the ground.

Quil trilled and reached out with one foot, then picked him up. The trapinch made a rough, confused growling sound as she tilted him onto his back in the air.

"Gentle, Quil," Remni said nervously.

The skarmory trilled again, then put him back down.

Eti's bagon hopped across the room towards them, closely followed by Backlash. The floatzel walked along on all fours like a poochyena. Even with her belly low to the ground, she still towered over the little dragon-type.

Victus croaked uncertainly as the bagon approached, and that was it. Quil squawked and stood between them, and refused to let the bagon pass.

Remni shook her head at Eti, and murmured, "Sorry."

"It's fine, she's protective and that isn't a bad thing. His name is Ille," Eti said.

"E-lay?" Remni said, testing out the pronunciation. "Nice. What's it short for?"

Eti laughed again, and this time it wasn't shaky. "It's not short for anything! He already had the name."

"Oh, yeah." Remni laughed awkwardly. "That's a nice name, anyway. Quil named Victus," she replied.

"I wonder what the others name their dragons?" Eti asked aloud.

Remni shrugged. "They never told me."

* * *

They separated to do their own training. Victus wandered around the room. Every time he found a rock bigger than his head, he picked it up with his teeth and crushed it. Remni settled down to watch, and Quil sat beside her.

"He's getting pretty strong,' Remni said.

"Morrrry," Quil said, rolling her r's in a soft croon. She leant her head down to rub her cheek against Remni's shoulder.

"I like him. I'm glad you like him, too."

It was quiet after that. The only noises were the soft crushing sounds of Victus breaking rocks and stomping on them and Ille Headbutting the walls and prying apart the fractures with his tiny fingers.

* * *

Quil quickly lost interest in the basic practice. She began to shift her weight and straighten her already ramrod-straight feathers.

"We had to do the same thing, in the beginning," Remni reminded the steel/flying-type, and scratched soothingly at the bird's neck with affection. "Give him time to grow."

Quil snorted, and waddled over to crouch next to Victus. He looked up in curiosity, but went right back to lifting and throwing rocks when she didn't make any further moves.

Remni retrieved the rest of her pokéballs. Quil's and Victus' were materialised and in her jacket pockets, but the other five jumbled up in her bag. She poured them into her lap, and ran her fingers over them. The red surface was almost translucent, and she could see the faint minimised forms of her pokémon. She rolled them over her hands, naming each one as she went and familiarised herself with how they look in the artificial light.

"I know it's not a good idea to have you all out," she murmured down at them. Both hands came up with a pokéball in each. She had Tanner in her left and Asio in her right. She sighed loudly and dropped them both into her lap. "But I still wish you could be out here," she whispered again.

A "Hey!" rung out, and Remni nearly leapt out of her skin. Even Ille and Victus stopped their mindless practice and raised their heads.

Excited yelling, clamouring and even howling echoed down the hallway from the main cavern.

Remni recalled Quil and Victus, and started running before Eti even got up.

* * *

In the main cavern, every trainer seemed to crowd around the middle. Half of them looked up, others muttered to each other.

"Look at that!" An arm poked out of the group, pointing directly upwards.

Something small and square was floating down from the void. A puff of material trailed behind it- a parachute slowing the fall. Something shiny-silver and sharp-edged circled it as it fell.

It was a skarmory.

It was _the_ skarmory.

"That's Amnestri!"

"Who?"

"Maszari's skarmory!"

The slender bird flew down in wide circles- he rolled gracefully in the air, turning to either side as he moved and traced lines along the wall with the tips of his sharp feathers. Dirt crumbled and slid down the wall where his metallic feather tips dug in.

The box hit the ground with a loud thump, and the parachute drifted down after it. It enveloped half of the box, then the skarmory landed on the corner. He shuffled its wings, then squawked loudly.

Someone cautiously approached.

The skarmory straightened up and raised his wings, and cawed loudly again.

A few of the trainers shared looks.

After another minute, the skarmory ducked down and pecked furiously at the box. The lid popped, and he squawked and leapt back into the air. He flew to a far wall and dug his claws in, settling in to watch them.

In the box was several other boxes, some bottles of water and a few pieces of paper on top. Someone pulled out the paper, but their hands were immediately enveloped in pink energy.

The huge metagross, Shyanne, floated down slowly from the ceiling. The paper twisted and turned in the air as it flew up towards the hulking steel/psychic-type.

Remni flinched as the metagross' deep voice suddenly spoke up in her head.

'_Attention all trainers. We have a rescue team stationed directly above the hole where the train fell. They are currently working on removing all the rubble and getting all of you out. A lot of the ground has caved in, and it had taken a great effort to move enough even to send this note down. I have sent Amnestri down to ensure that it reaches you. He knows that he cannot come back up. We need all of you to move as far away from the main tunnel as possible. We have employed several psychic-types to lift the rock, but they cannot hold what they cannot see and some of the debris slips passed them. We hope to start getting people out of there in two days. Hold tight._'

* * *

It was silent for a full moment, then cheers rang out. People leaped into each other's arms as celebratory yelling lit up the cavern. Several fire-types craned their necks and blew out celebratory sparks.

Eti reached for Remni and dragged her into a shaky hug.

"See," Remni murmured into her friend's hair. "Everything's gonna be fine."

Eti looked up at her, her light eyes wet with tears. "Of-of course."

Knowing they were closer, if not close, to being rescued caused everyone's spirits to lift. Trainers began to release their entire teams, and others flew through the air on flying-types. Others had hugged and refused to let go. Remni and Eti couldn't find Alexei and Risa, and decided to go back to training somewhere quieter. The baby dragons had gone back to attacking the rock around them.

Remni was staring into the distance, quietly thinking about fresh air and sunshine. An image of the first beach they landed on, near Rustboro City, passed through her mind and she smiled. Nikko would enjoy being back near the ocean.

A shadow passed across the tunnel in front of them, and Remni frowned. Quil didn't move, then crooned softly when Remni slowly got to her feet. Something scratched against the wall, and the noise echoed. The shadow passed over the entrance again. Quil followed her gaze and made a concerned noise. But the skarmory didn't get up.

"Don't…don't worry. I'm just gonna have a look down that tunnel." She waved at Eti when she looked up in confusion. Jackal came out of his pokéball as soon as she passed into the shadow. "Jackal, can you-" He stiffened, then sprinted off before she could finish. "Jackal!"

Deep, low rumbling began to echo around them. Remni hesitated with Carrow's pokéball in her hands. He could lighten the area instantly, but throwing another pokémon into a not-fight would very quickly make it into a fight.

Suddenly, light reflected off of something silvery. Long curving horns dipped out of the shadow and passed into the hall, then a muscular canine with dark black fur and other silver protrusions down its back.

"A houndoom…?" An image of Jackal running through the woods, tracking a shadow in the trees flashed into her mind. "Oh! The houndoom from the base of Mt Chimney! Did it...follow us?"

Jackal appeared on the houndoom's left, and both stopped where they stood, half-bathed in Nate's Flash attack. The dark/fire-type tilted its head curiously, and something on its horns caught her eye.

"What's that…?" she asked in confusion, and took a step forward.

Jackal sat back and began licking his paws, so Remni went down on one knee in front of the houndoom. It put her just below its chin, but it lowered its head anyway. Near the slender end of the tapered horn sat a thatched, bright purple mark. "Is that…" she was cut off as the ground heaved below them.

Carrow's pokéball shook and nearly jerked out of her hand.

'_IT'S HERE,_' he roared in her head. She heard the vague, far-off noises of Eti shouting in the distance before the ground swallowed them whole.

She only had time to leap for Jackal, grab him by the scruff of his neck and pop the lock on Carrow's pokéball. The houndoom roared and scrabbled at the ground, trying to leapt from piece to piece, but her luxray just curled into her.

* * *

"I am getting _sick_ of falling through the floor," Eti snarled in a rare display of fury. She rubbed her head with one hand, and clutched at Nate's antenna with the other.

"Me too," Remni replied tiredly. The broken remains of Carrow's pokéball dug into her chest from where it had shattered, and the pokémon himself hovered behind her. His psychic energy ran loops around her and Jackal to keep them from splattering on the ground. He couldn't hold the houndoom due to the hound's dark-typing, and had to suspend a rock for the houndoom to stand on. The houndoom's sharp claws carved tiny divots into the rock.

"What happened, Carrow?" Remni asked.

'_The beacon I set earlier emerged nearby, and moved underneath the rock. It seemed to have destabilised the ground beneath us,_' he explained. His head rotated slowly as he took in the dark area around them. '_It is likely that, when all the trainers released their pokémon, it also increased the strain on the earth._'

The light from Nate's Flash attack still lit the area. It played over the wall nearest to them, which reflected it back at them. The stone had changed entirely into light blue crystal. Remni gazed into the depths of it, but it was just an endless see of pale blue. Each human and the four pokémon were bathed in the seafoam-coloured light. It made the houndoom look like one of the special, discoloured variations that often showed up in Johtoan contests.

"What is all this?" Eti wondered aloud. She turned around on Nate's back to look between the void in front of them and the crystal walls behind. Far below them, a similar pale glow shined up.

'_This section of the earth is made of crystal. It grows naturally in some areas, and in such a deep and undisturbed area it would never have been harvested by humans or pokémon. Until our beacon destroyed the foundations of the cave above us, it is likely that no humans had been down here,_' Carrow said. His voice was low and somewhat distracted as he held his human, the luxray and the rock supporting the houndoom. As he spoke, they began to float down faster.

"Are you okay?!" Remni asked in alarm.

He rocked back and forth in a nod. '_I am tiring. We must go faster._' He sped up their descent, then slowed down again as the crystal floor neared.

* * *

Huge ledges and hills poked free of the ground in various places. They glowed lightly of their own accord, and then even brighter as Nate's Flash reflected off of them and into the void.

Carrow dropped Remni, then Jackal, both of whom landed on their feet and bent knees.

The houndoom's rock was slowly lowered to the ground, then it shattered as it leapt free. It loped a few feet away, then turned back and lowered its head to look at them.

Jackal sidled up to Remni and looked back at the houndoom. They barely moved while Eti slipped off of Nate's smooth head. Then the houndoom turned and rushed into the darkness. A few seconds later, a spine-chilling howl sprung up from the direction it ran in.

"Are you okay?" Remni asked.

Eti stretched weakly, but nodded. "Yes, Nate caught me."

"I saw that. Are you _okay_, though?"

"I will be." Eti hummed. "Come, we should look for the others."

"Right."

* * *

The area they fell into only had one exit- a narrower gap between a snapped stalagmite that had fall against another and created a gap between them. It was small enough that they had to walk single-file through it. Nate went first to light the way, Eti after, then Remni, and finally Jackal. Carrow had to be re-captured in a new pokéball so that he could rest, but he was so exhausted that it only shook once before lighting up.

'_Critical capture?_' Remni joked in her head.

The tired amusement that floated back towards her was vague, but still reassuring. She tucked his new pokéball away.

Luckily, or unluckily, the cavern collapsing above seemed to have smashed a similar pattern into the crystal layer below. Huge chunks of rock lay in small craters in the crystalline floor- and it was easy enough to follow the trail. Often they had to squeeze around particularly thick protrusions, or smash ones that still stood, but eventually they arrived at a large cavern similar to the first one.

This one was huge, maybe even bigger than the one that previously housed the train. Chunks of metal were splayed over the spikes like clothes in a messy bedroom. Some very sharp pieces speared the ground, and had to be kicked down to prevent injury. The remains of the train led back and forth across the crystal, and other trainers milled around in small groups. In this area, the crystals were huge. They were easily twice the height of Remni, and longer than Jackal.

A pidgeot perched several feet above them twisted its head, then cawed loudly.

Something prickled in her head, and Remni mentally reached for Carrow.

He bristled under her touch. Even locked away in the pokéball, the dirt around them shifted like sand in the wind.

The walls of the new cavern seemed to warp and fold down on them. Remni stared into the distance. The air caught in her lungs, and she shook her head to push the feeling away.

"Okay?" Eti asked warily.

The world tilted. "Dizzy," Remni answered. She cautiously reached for Carrow in her mind, trying to push a question, but the erratic thoughts and emotions spilled over and out of her mental grip. She grimaced, but focussed on composing herself mentally. Eventually the mess settled, but she still couldn't reach him. A sudden shut broke her concentration.

"Eti! Remni!"

For the second time in way too few days, a solid weight hit her in the back. Arms came up around her waist, and Remni leaned back into Risa's grip. "Hey, you," Remni said.

"That's all you can say?! I thought you were dead?" Risa shouted.

Remni froze, and her happy mood immediately dropped. "I'm sorry Risa! We just fell!"

"Risa," Eti reprimanded. "Stop that. You're upsetting her."

They immediately started to bicker.

"You let your friends talk about you like that?" someone else asked.

Remni looked to the left to see Michi- the black-haired girl from Anna's group. She had her hands in her pockets, and leaned against a vertical crystal slab. "They own you, or something?" The other girl basically sneered, and Remni ducked her head in embarrassment.

"What? No, she was just… concerned," Remni replied nervously.

"Sure. That's why she was pissed. Sounds like someone else I know." Michi rolled her eyes, and crossed her arms. She shifted her weight, drawing Remni's gaze down to the other girl's bloodied knees, where dried stains covered more area than clean fabric, then back up to her scowl.

Conflicted, Remni backed up- straight into Alexei.

"Glad you're okay, Rem. What're you looking at?" he asked.

"Uh…" Remni turned back to look at Michi, but the girl was gone. There was a puddle of blood on the ground, and it shone an artificial, neon colour on the crystal. "Uh, nothing. Don't worry."

The ground rumbled loudly, and huge chunks of crystal broke off of a far wall and shattered on the ground. Some of the trainers yelled.

"What is going on here?" Eti asked.

Risa was skulking, so Alexei answered, "The ground just…broke open. Everyone fell, but 'cause we were all awake most people had time to get out a flying type or a psychic. That huge metagross and the exeggutor grabbed anyone that didn't have another option. They let us down here. Some of the psychics said that there's something underground, but whenever they try to lock onto it they just get a headache. We're trying to get to higher ground, but no one knows what to do."

"Carrow sensed something earlier! He put a beacon on it, maybe he can track whatever-it-is?" Remni mused.

'_It is not within my range; I cannot find it. I can only tell you when it nears,_' Carrow said mentally. His voice was still soft from exhaustion, but steady with determination.

'_Show me your beacon,_' another voice whispered. Remni jerked violently, and suddenly the cavern fell silent. It was evident that everyone heard the voice. Judging by the vast depth beneath it, it was most likely…

'_Shyanne. Of course._' Carrow responded in an unusually smooth tone. He immediately peeled apart his mental barriers for the huge psychic.

Remni focussed on his tone, and asked, '_What are you doing?_'

'_She is very composed. I am…childish in comparison,_' he 'explained'.

'_You don't have to prove anything to her, Carrow._'

'_This is a psychic thing, you would not understand,_' he answered coolly, then shut down on their mental connection like a guillotine. It was abrupt and curt, and Remni physically flinched away from him. His pokéball opened of its own accord, and he floated over towards the middle of the cavern. Remni reached for Jackal and carded her fingers through his mane. It soothed the rattle left behind by the fall and Carrow's abrasive reaction.

Eti looped an arm around her shoulder, and Alexei and Risa pressed close together and closed off the other side, just leaving enough room for Nate where the magnezone hovered overhead, and Renna, who poked her head in between Alexei and Risa's.

'_Attention,_' said Shyanne's smooth voice. '_There's a pokémon circling the area at a distance. Neutronus and I have locked onto the beacon that another psychic secured. We will monitor it and alert you all when it comes closer._'

"What is going on down here?" Alexei muttered, hanging his head.

Remni hung onto her own swirling emotions, and just tried to breathe.

* * *

Time passed quickly. The trainers that couldn't stand to do nothing began to set up tents, another nursery and a few small gardens, even though they knew they wouldn't need them for long. After a few hours, a few trainers started to mock battle. Most people focussed on their own teams, and their baby dragons. Another small group tried to set up a team to fight the beacon if it returned, but the psychics could not provide any new information about it, and they had nothing to base their strategies on.

Nervous, angry and on-guard, very few trainers slept that night.

* * *

Remni woke with a start. Her breath caught in her throat and she coughed roughly. Every new breath felt like it had less oxygen, and she strained for air. Carrow had yet to return to her, and his pokéball lay under her pillow. She scrabbled for it, and then held it between her palms as she tried to breathe. In-two-three-four…hold for seven seconds…out-two-three-four-five-six-seven-eight. Her heart and lungs ached with the forced pattern, but slowly the vicious tempo decreased. Her fingers twitched nervously. The leftover memories of her nightmare clung- the feeling of soft snow on her arms, the wetness of blood on her palms.

A hand touched her shoulder lightly, and suddenly she couldn't bear to hear Eti say anything.

"It's fine, it's fine," she babbled. This dream had a factor she hadn't noticed earlier- hard, dark-coloured rock under her feet. "I-I think I know why I've been having nightmares."

"You have? That's-that's good? How can we fix it?" Eti asked reassuringly. Her hair was mussed all over from sleep, and she blinked to try to fully wake up.

"I need you…to take these," Remni said. She dragged her backpack forward, and dug in one of the external pockets for something. She came up with a pile of dark shards- identical to the ones that she'd found on the first day.

"Wha- where did you get all of these?!" Eti exclaimed, startled enough to lose her composure. She held out her hands and Remni tipped them in.

"Just…around. Every time we saw a beach, I'd find one washed up on the shore. Nikko brought me some before we left Rustboro. I think they…" she trailed off, then clenched her fists when her fingers began to tremble. The tremors ran up her arms and made her shoulders shake.

"Remni? What's wrong with them?"

Remni opened her eyes, and they were wet. "Ever since we found them I've had nightmares about…about…" She struggled with her thoughts, her breath, her heart. "_Askance._" It was the first time she had said his name aloud, to anyone other than the calm Sinnohan psychologists, for several years. Her tongue had long forgotten how to shape the sounds. The word was strange to any Sinnohan native despite the fact that he'd been born there. "And-and they look just like…his…" She hiccupped loudly, then wrung her hands together.

"Hush, shh. It's okay. Oh dear," Eti consoled softly. She dumped the shards into her lap, then rubbed at Remni's should, trying to massage the tremors out of them. "It's alright, I understand. I'll take them. Don't worry."

Neither of them slept after that, but it still felt like a weight had been lifted from Remni's shoulders.

* * *

As they occupied their time with idle, reassuring conversation, I examined the dumped shards. They were hard, dark but deeply reflective like the crystal that surrounded them. I reached for them psychically, and felt as they dipped into my hold without falling through. They were either dark by nature, or had somehow become imbued with dark energy to be able to affect psychic energy in this way. I lowered them softly to the sleeping bag to prevent the humans from noticing. There was something deeply familiar about them- a feel to it that resonated with me. Perhaps they really were dusk stones…? There was something in the structure that suggested a kind of curvature atypical of normal dusk stones…but…

My train of thought was abruptly cut off as something Teleported into the tent. I forcefully phased out of the physical plane, and aligned myself with my human. As Carrow turned slowly to take in the tent, I felt my sense slowly dull.

There was a growl- a human one.

Carrow answered mentally, and I could only get a vague sense of it from my human's head. He sounded emotionless.

My human spoke aloud, but this time it was louder.

Interesting…the psychic and my human were fighting. I folded my mind in on itself to consider this. I had tried to divide them before to no avail, but now…

My human's voice increased by an octave.

I settled back into the darkness to mull over this new development.

* * *

"IT'S BACK AGAIN" Someone screamed.

Remni and Carrow's arguing stopped short as the ground beneath them began to tremble. He Teleported away, and Eti and Remni hurried out after him.

A far wall exploded, and rocks rolled down it like an avalanche. Something huge and snake-like dove from the wall, and crashed into the ground. It rolled and curled up like a kicked dog, then thrashed wildly. Trainers yelled and fled the area as rocks flew and dust blew into the air like a sandstorm. Someone snarled, and two canines materialised on top of opposing crystal precipices. Electricity arced off of one and shot towards the writhing figure, then vanished with a ringing noise like a distant bell. The other canine threw its head back, and light gathered in its jaws. Bright red and orange flames spilled from its mouth in a stream, and poured over the newcomer. It screeched, then threw itself into the air and dived back down. Immediately, it disappeared below the surface. Shattered crystal rolled across the ground, and made echoing ringing noises.

Eti snatched Remni's hand up as the ground around them shook. It cracked viciously in front of them, then bulged upwards as something poked up from underneath. The strange pokémon exploded from the either with a blast of rock and crystal, and they covered their face to avoid the debris.

Its face was mangled, one half filled with fangs and the other simple, square-like teeth. Metal curled off of its body like steel shavings, and parts of its skin were dark with dried blood. It looked like an onix- huge and long like the rock snake, but the colours were a mess. Only five body segments showed up above the ground, enough for it to arc its neck and roar in their faces.

Both trainers were too petrified to react.

'_REMNI_' Carrow's voice in her head was like a firework going off. She hunched down further, but blazing psychic energy ensnared them like a Vine Whip, and jerked the two trainers to the side just as the abomination dived forward and demolished the ground where they previously stood. The ground shook, but it did not resurface.

Something flickered into existence beside her. Thick tendrils of psychic energy wrapped around her, but did not touch Eti. The other girl jerked away as Remni was scooped nearly a metre off of the ground. Carrow appeared in an uncontrolled burst of psychic energy, and physically, visibly trembled. Even the psychic energy that held her shivered with distress. She tried to free one arm, one hand to touch him, but found that the hold was too tight. With her physical movement restricted, she turned her mind inwards and, despite the chaos outside, carefully scraped together her affection for him, her gratitude over their lives and her regret over the argument. She pushed it towards him mentally, with all the grace of a kicked sack, but he paused to examine it anyway. The trembling eased, and his spot in her mind warmed.

The two of them stayed frozen until the shocking rumbles subsided.

Elsewhere, chaos still ran abounds. The creature had tunnelled into the crystal and emerged further along the cavern, but down a valley that Eti and Remni could not see into.

"Get out of the way!" Someone else yelled. Shouts and screams began to echo out of sight. Eti climbed on top of another spire to try and see what was going on, and Carrow placed Remni beside her. He stayed silent despite her mental nudges and verbal questions, and returned to his pokéball of his own accord.

Over a hill and further down was a new hole, and the creature was coiled up next to it. Eti and Remni shared a look, then sprinted down the hill, their pokémon running after them.

The creature had wrapped tightly around a glowing spire, and roared into the air. The cavern shook as rocks fell from the ceiling and exploded against the ground around it. Several trainers screamed and leapt away, and a huge pidgeot dived down to yank one of them to safety. A slew of rocks flew into the air around them, and It squawked furiously and dived in an effort to dodge.

"Flamethrower! And Thunderbolt!" Tamora yelled.

Remni finally reached the precipice, and watched as Tamora yelled. A huge houndoom and the manectric, Salur, crested two nearby hills, and spat their attacks. A torrent of flame gushed against the creature's side, and the electric bolt hit it dead-on, making it roar. The Rock Slide attack abruptly stopped.

The creature roared again. A bright point of light fell like a star to the ground beneath it, and began making huge, sweeping circles around the strange pokémon. The crystal that it had perched on trembled, and loud fractures cut across the surface of it.

"Get back!" The other ranger, the Kantonese girl, Lisa, had made her way over. She wielded one of the newer capture devices that third generation rangers had been outfitted with. She swung it in arcs, and the disc spinning across the floor responded and traced the same loops around the jutting spire and its roaring assailant.

Tamora leapt back off of her rock, her pokémon with her, when it jerked around and spat a Dragon Breath at her. The hill exploded, and the houndoom and manectric twisted in the air to avoid the airborne fragments. Their trainer rolled in the air and landed in a crouch. Her canines landed nearby- the houndoom in front and snarling flames, and sparking Salur behind her.

"Carrow! Grass Knot!" Remni yelled. They were finally close enough, and the claydol leapt from his pokéball like an arrow from a bow. He flew towards the creature, cloaked in a shield of dense psychic energy, then raised his arms. The crystal beneath the spire cracked, and long, thick blades of grass jutted free. They curved upwards towards the behemoth, then wrapped around the segments of its body. The not-onix roared, and tried to climb further but it was at the end of the pointed crystal, and Carrow's Grass Knot began to loop closer to its neck.

It struggled, easily snapping some of the thinner or less numerous blades. It twisted around like it had no spine at all, and spat a careening rock at Remni. It moved faster than either trainer could react.

Carrow visibly halted and threw out a psychic hand like a stone. It wrapped around the huge projectile, but he was overzealous and only managed to crush it into two smaller pieces. The extra energy pushed it further. Remni opened her mouth to yell when-

"Tyreille!"

The rocks exploded.

Debris rained down onto Remni and Eti, but it was only tiny slivers or light powder. They shielded their eyes from both the dust and the burst of light that had shattered it.

Across from them stood a mountain of a pokémon. It hard thick, dark green skin and various spikes emerging from its spine. Silver steel armour covered its underbelly, which was normally exposed by its bipedal nature. Its massive chest heaved as it recovered from the Hyper Beam that it had spat at them.

Eti collapsed to the ground, but Remni was shaking. Her gaze twitched between Michi, standing on the tyranitar's shoulder, and the not-onix, which rained stones down onto the zig-zagging capture styler that circled it.

Carrow's concern burned her mind in demand of an answer, and she closed her eyes and rubbed her temples, urging an affirmation through her clenched teeth. It didn't _quite_ carry over mentally, but the pounding headache overrode any sense of etiquette.

"You okay?" she asked Eti, who was puddled on the floor and trembling. When Eti shakily nodded her head, Remni messed with her friend's bag and retrieved a pokéball. She dropped it, and Deadshot appeared in a flash.

She glared around as waves of his trainer's distress hit her. Remni caught the lucario's eyes and retreated, broadcasting her movements in her body language and thoughts to dissuade the lucario from registering her as the threat. De wasn't a psychic like Carrow, and dealing with psychics was what Remni was used to.

But Eti had told her in the past that mental thoughts and feelings often leaked into your aura, and that was something that the lucario could see.

Remni nodded at De when the tense line of the lucario's shoulders eased. When she nodded back, Remni ran.

The not-onix continued to snipe at the capture styler with smaller rocks- probably a Smack Down attack.

Other psychic pokémon hung in the air at a distance. Curling swathes of psychic energy in pink and purple hues swarmed the ground around the lone spire. They swept aside falling rocks, chipped at the spire, and wrapped around the not-onix in a multi-coloured swirl.

It Screeched like a banette, and half the trainers hit the floor. Remni clapped her hands around her ears and her knees buckled. The sound tore at her skin and made the ground shake. Liquid dripped onto her lip, and she couldn't tell if it was blood or sweat. Screams mixed with the rusty metal Screeching, and echoed off of the walls in her mind until they melded together.

'_It is done,_' a familiar voice murmured in her ears, and the earth-shattering noise abruptly cut out.

* * *

Remni blinked rapidly. The world around her was dark as pitch. There was no cavern, no light blur crystals arcing through the sky, no trainers, no pokémon. She held her hands up in front of her face, and could pick out every tiny hair, jagged scar and wrinkle. But beyond that; nothing.

'_Easy, come this way,_' the voice, distinctly low and calm but familiar and undoubtedly a talented psychic, rolled across her mind. Nothing in the darkness changed, but a light pulled on her chest flung her through space. The endless vacuum sucked lightly at her skin and-

A number of people hovered in the void. Between them, a gardevoir with its arms spread wide hung further up.

'_He has stopped,_' was all she heard before the darkness swept away.

* * *

Remni stumbled, then shook her head. The light reflecting off of the crystals made her eyes ache. They were back in the cavern, and that was… '_A gardevoir,_' she thought to herself. '_I think it was Narsch. They can create sensory black holes that block all external stimuli._'

'_Quite,_' Carrow said curtly. '_I don't know if I appreciate that._'

'_I think Narsch just grabbed all of the trainers that were nearby, Carrow. Don't fret._'

'_To borrow a phrase from your twin, 'no offence', but you are a significantly longer distance away from the other trainers._'

Another roar split the cavern and their conversation.

The not-onix was still wrapped around its spire, and waves of energy rolled down its body and across the ground. The air warped like a shimmering mirage, and was visibly darker around the behemoth than it was everywhere else. It was like dark-type energy leaked from under its skin.

It thrashed again, and Carrow's Grass Knot was pummelled and dashed against the now-jagged crystal, and the waves of psychic energy thinned and blew off into the air, if they did not already snap.

Another onix, this one clearly normal with light grey skin. It roared as it appeared, and moved forward, but froze when it sets its eyes on the not-onix.

The huge behemoth just stared back.

The new onix hunched to the ground, looking warily about. It did not move or try to attack despite its trainer yelling commands. Eventually, it was returned.

A second capture styler had joined the first, and now ran circles around the creature in the opposite direction to the first. This one emitted a searing, yellow-tinged glow that drew the not-onix' fierce gaze, but still the creature did not relent.

Tamora's houndoom dove forward and landed directly in front of the huge creature. The hound let out a soul shattering howl that drew every scrap of attention left hanging, and the not-onix narrowed the huge eye that hadn't swollen shut. It jerked, flicking its tail, and crystal flew towards the houndoom, who dodged and ducked with ease. The dark/fire-type sat back on its heels in a single moment of peace, grounding itself, then let forth a thick plume of fire.

The stream grew into a ball shape and flew through the air with surprising speed. It burst on contact with the creature, and littered the ground with embers.

It roared, more pain than fury, but continued to thrash.

"New plan!" Keith yelled just as Remni skirted the final felled boulder and clambered the hill blocking most of the trainers from her sight. He was standing beside Tamora, who had her arms crossed. In the centre of the cavern, the two canines retreated, and Michi's huge tyranitar now engaged the creature. The dark/rock-type was tall and sturdy like the rest of its kind, but their assailant was a behemoth. Its massive bulk encircled the huge dinosaur in seconds. The tyranitar gripped and struggled to crush the not-onix' body between its arms, while the behemoth in turn attempted to Constrict around the other. Sections of crystal buckled and splintered beneath their combined bulk, kicked up into a diamond flurry that began to hide them from view.

"According to our current knowledge base on the onix line, this creature is approximately two point three standard deviations about the average length. At least, from what I've estimated," Reise said. He tapped at his tablet twice, then flipped it around to display. It was a simple diagram- the silhouette of an average onix along the top, the silhouette of an average ten-year-old beside it, then a third image that was made of blue lines over a white background and far longer than the other two- this was clearly meant to represent the creature before them.

"We need to incapacitate it, _not_ kill it. Bring out anything with powder moves, with hypnosis, anything that'll keep it down without hurting it." Keith's attention was divided between the capture styler that he continued to control, and his speech. He trailed off, and the disc nearly spun out as a line of rocks exploded nearby.

"It nearly killed two people, ranger!" someone else snarled.

"They know the dangers! And we were all warned about something like this! We need to capture it and figure out what's happened to it, and we can't do that with a burnt-up corpse."

Several voices rose up in affirmation.

"What do you want us to do?" Remni finally asked.

* * *

After failing to crush Tyreille the tyranitar, but unwilling to follow it back towards Michi and the rest of her team, it had retreated back up its spire. The dark/rock-type had knelt down to allow Michi to apply potions to its wounds, then easily vanished back into its pokéball. Next, out came a gyarados. It barely needed any explanation from Michi before it snaked its way over, and circled the spire in order to keep the no-onix in place. A number of psychic types now hovered in a newly-formed circle around the creature. It stalled the behemoth to allow them to organise themselves.

They held up a Barrier around the not-onix to try to pin it. A hole at the top opened up to allow a ledian and a butterfree to pour Sleep Power down it and directly onto its head. The two capture stylers continued their loops, matching the other at every point and making perfect circles. Lisa and Keith stood on opposing hills, each with a partner pokémon beside them, and coordinated the capture devices.

The creature roared, thrashed, and struggled to free itself. But against several dozen psychics it found no quarter. The crystal dented and cracked beneath it, then finally broke open. It had long demolished the end of the spire and sought to re-bury itself, but the barrier extending beneath it, and it couldn't damage it no matter what it tried. Several grass-types that ringed the spire from the floor brought Vine Whips and Grass Knots up from the soil to hold it in super effective loops and tangles.

It took time. Long, exhausting time, but its movement began to slow. First, the rocks stopped falling. Only an occasional pebble dropped from the ceiling, and most had the presence of mind to dodge it. The crystal spires stopped launching themselves across the cavern. Second, the small-scale earthquakes slowly diminished in severity and distance. Nearly out of earshot and perched on a low hill, Remni could no longer feel them.

Overhead, a chimecho chimed and grinned delightedly despite the torn up messthat surrounded it.

* * *

A Johtoan trainer pulled out a bag of Friend Balls, but was stopped by someone near him. The group pooled their resources, and very quickly came up with nearly a dozen Luxury Balls.

* * *

The butterfree flew back and forth between Anna and the hole in the barrier. It dropped ball after ball down, while the ledian continued to sprinkle the violet-coloured powder. Everyone watched as they broke open on the creature's head, sucked it inside and quivered, before spewing it back up on the ground. Each time, the psychics struggled to wrap it in energy before it struggled enough to fight or flee.

It took seven tries, an extra layer of vine attacks as well as a jigglypuff lullaby that had even Jackal and Salur the manectric whining before a single pokéball even rocked more than _once_.

An alakazam collapsed in exhausted, and the ledian landed beside it. Most of the psychics were visibly panting. Remni had long returned Carrow, but he watched the scene tiredly through her eyes. All of the trainers fell silent.

The luxury ball bounced off of a spire and rolled across the room before landing in a crevice. It rocked in the crevice, the button flashing angrily red.

It rocked again, and Remni held her breath.

A third time.

A small tremor rocked the room.

Then it clicked.

* * *

_Author's Notes: Not _entirely _happy with this chapter, but it got delayed so much! I'm glad I got in the re-write, 'cause it forced me to plan like 95% of the story. I know how the vast majority of this is going to go, it's just a bit of the end that's still getting ironed out. Anyway! I hope you enjoyed this! The characters are all getting yanked out of the cavern for better or for worse in the next chapter, which will hopefully come out soon because I'm on holidays now! Apart from a few exams /rip. Please, please let me know what you think! Any characters you liked, or ideas, or pokémon? Or anything you'd like to see? Let me know! I'll see what I can do =]_

_I know a lot of trainers have been introduced, and I've mentioned this before, but for the most part it's to drive home how many trainers there are, and how varied they are. Any trainers that will become recurring characters will be re-introduced when they show up again. Don't worry about remembering them unless you really want to!_

_Also: although we don't see much of Cassidy, Fiona and Wren in this chapter, until Remni and the other split off from them completely, they'll remain on the list._

_Thanks for reading!_

**Team Lists-**

**Remni**\- **Carrow** (claydol), **Jackal** (luxray), **Nikko** (sharpedo), **Quil** (skarmory), **Asio** (stantler), **Tanner** (togekiss).

**Alexei**\- **Wisteria** (staraptor), **Cineraria** (luxray), **Lilium** (roserade), **Lotus** (golduck), (weavile), (hippowdon).

**Eti**\- **Detonate [Nate]** (magnezone), **Ricochet [Ric]** (rampardos), **Deadshot [De]** (lucario), (kricketune), **Backlash [Lassie] **(floatzel), **Emanate [Em] **(alakazam).

**Risa**\- **Twit** (abomasnow), **Denno** (crobat), **Renna** (rapidash), **Annushka** (gyarados), **Leila **(mismagius), **Tar **(rhyperior).

**Cassidy**\- **Arrow** (banette), (swampert), (shiftry), (masquerain), (aggron), (electabuzz).

**Fiona**\- (kirlia), (sceptile), (altaria), (swalot), (magneton), (armaldo).

**Wren**\- (blaziken), (linoone), **Adeline** (gardevoir), (mightyena), (flygon), (walrein).


	9. Chapter Nine

Keith released the not-onix under the watchful eyes of nearly a dozen wary psychic-types. It materialised, and gazed around wearily. With this newfound stillness, and in much better lighting, the faults and damage across its body became more obvious.

For the most part it resembled an onix: over a dozen round segments that made up its body, and one large horn emerging from the middle of its head. The stone was mostly the correct slate-grey tone. But cracks and fissures can over every part of it, and the grey was cut sharply through with brown. Ruddy brown blood had dried in patches, but more of it still dripped down its head and puddled on the floor. The worst of it was the huge, curling shucks of metal. Some of it flattened against its body, but other parts cut deeply in the skin and emerged in sharp points and stumps.

"It looks…" Keith wondered aloud.

"Half-formed." Anna finished. She walked towards the not-onix, and most of the trainers froze as it stirred, and lifted its head to look at her. She held out both hands, and obviously slumped her shoulders and walked slowly, broadcasting her movements.

It moved closer, wurmple-ing another foot forward, before slumping back down. Anna misted it with two hyper potions- one in each hand. The open wounds on its head slowly closed over and began to scar, and the bleeding quickly stopped. The skin was shiny and bulging, and looked very thin even on the surface.

"A failed evolution," Anna said with finality.

Whispers and snarls sprung up around the room.

"The researchers were right!"

"It's already happened!"

"It's only _half_ there!"

The not-onix rolled onto its side pitiably.

Keith went to his knees beside it, and stroked firmly along its skin. Even the small areas that he could reach were a mixture of weak flesh, thick rock and smooth steel. It moaned unhappily when he pressed too hard, but did not move away from his hands.

"Biologically, it's evolved. But it needs to fully form its steel coat." A trainer followed by an aggron walked up. "Steelix are like the aron line. They need to consume enough steel leading up to their evolutions to fully form their outer shell."

"And it evolved too quickly to do so," Anna mused to herself. "Thank you for your input."

"We need steel."

"Does anyone have anything made of steel?!" Michi yelled. Her tyranitar roared to garner more attention.

"Whatever you have! As much as you have!" Keith yelled out.

The aggron growled quietly, and reach for its own forearms. It dug its nails in, looked at its trainer, then pulled a layer of steel free. A shocked murmur rippled through the group, then slowly died as the steel/rock-type repeated the motion on it other arm.

"Vee has very, very thick armour. He'd have to lose it eventually in this heat. At least here, it can be of use," the aggron's trainer explained. They pulled out another two pokéballs and dropped them.

The two new pokémon roared, then peered around them in interest. One was long and snake-like, with two large spikes protruding horizontally from its jaws. It was a gleaming silver colour- each facet of its body polished smooth. It was a textbook example of what a steelix should look like. The second was another skarmory- the same shiny silver as the other two. Its wings seemed much thicker than average, and each feather scraped together at the smallest movements. As soon as it looked around, it began pulling out is long feathers.

Every scrap of metal was pushed into a pile in front of the steelix. The trainer with the steel specialty directed the other trainer's fire-type pokémon to begin melting the donated pieces. They also began adding pieces of dried meat, handfuls of herbs, and other bits of food that would assist the not-onix in properly growing its metal coat.

Remni and Keith systematically dismantled the makeshift ovens, and lumped the steel into a pile. Quil walked quietly around her, and occasionally ran her beak down her wings to remove some of the smaller feathers onto the pile.

Another steelix had been released. It was much wider than the half-formed behemoth, but not nearly as long. It coiled in a tight ball to warp the plating on its body. The steel bulged outwards in the middle and sheaths of it came lose, and fell to the ground in twisted waves.

In her backpack was a small bundle of old skarmory feathers- ones that Quil had brought to her in the early days when he was worried about losing them. She fanned them out in her hands. It was easy with the way that they'd become light with age. She dropped them on the pile.

Shyanne the metagross shuffled the others aside and directed the flow of pokémon and trainers as they brought whatever steel they had with them, or had found in the cavern. It was mostly small bits, fished out of cracks in the surrounding crystal. A group of electric-type pokémon created a magnetic field to draw the steel towards them, and search parties brought magneton with them. It was little more than iron filings, but the metagross and the exeggutor, Neutronus made sure to hold the pieces carefully, and feed them to the not-onix.

The not-onix lay on the other side of the pile, half curled up in misery, but obediently opened its mouth, chewed, and swallowed whatever bits of steel fell in. A small group of other trainers, armed with chansey, blissey and a single audino, hovered around it. Almost all of the bleeding had stopped, but they tended to the other wounds, both minor scratches and major broken bones. This effort went on in companionable silence for a long time. Once it started, most trainers were loathe to break it.

"A forced evolution," Anna croaked. It was the first real emotional reaction that Remni had seen from the other trainer, after the initial shock. She hadn't left the not-onix' side since Keith let it out.

Reise adjusted the tablet on his lap, then handed her another identical one. "Make sure to document everything. That research facility is going to want to see all of this." Earlier, he had jammed a small camera into a nearby crystal spire, pointed directly at the not-onix. The red light in the corner steadily blinked as it recorded the behemoth eating.

There was another yell, and something that glinted came falling out of the abyss. Feathers flew into the air as its wings fluttered, then exploded outwards as it hit the ground with a thump. Trainers leapt out of the way as wings swished and swept that cloud of feathers aside.

The dust settled, and a huge flying-type preened itself. It had a creamy underbelly, tawny wings and a swooping yellow and red crest. A huge metal chest plate circled its body, and it gleamed in the darkness.

The metagross psychically lifted the bird, who squawked.

"Shyanne!" Anna called in concern.

The pidgeot struggled in the psychic grip, beating its wings harshly.

'_We need to leave,_' someone growled in everyone's head.

"Put it down," Anna said. Her gaze settled on the metagross as it slowly floated closer.

Other trainers began to complain when the pidgeot leapt free in another burst of feathers. Frazzled, it spun around, then flew towards a smaller group of trainers.

Straight at Remni.

She started and took a step back, and Tanner flew up in front of her, beating her wings harshly. The pidgeot bore itself backwards to stop, then landed with a thump. On the ground in front of Remni, it looked far larger than most of the flying-types she'd seen. Tanner landed between them, flaring her wings aggressively.

"Tanner, no!" she shouted as the togekiss screeched and began charging an Aura Sphere. Tanner snapped her beak closed over it, breaking the move into wisps of blue-white energy.

"Pidge-oh!" The pidgeot hopped forward and Remni and Tanner held still as it neared. Then…

"Wait." Remni blinked at it. "Are you…?"

The pidgeot tilted its head on the side and chirped.

Tanner chirped back in response.

"Does it have a message or not?!" someone shouted.

"What's wrong?" Keith asked in concern.

"I think this is my sister's pidgeot," Remni said. "But I can't be sure, and I don't remember its name." She knelt down and reached out a hand. "Hey. Are you Luka's?"

The pidgeot straightened up, then flared its wings.

Tanner screeched and did the same, stretching her neck.

"Wait, wait! Tanner, come here!" Remni said, gesturing for the togekiss to return to her side.

Refusing to break eye contact, Tanner hopped backwards to Remni's side.

The pidgeot forward tentatively, then craned its neck and dug something out of the space between its chest and the ornate steel plate. It leaned forward and slipped the letter into Remni's hand. She scanned the first few lines before an invisible force pulled the letter from her hand. _Hello, this is Lumine. I am the sister of one of the people trapped down there. This pidgeot belongs to our other sister. Remni, if you've forgotten, her name is Uvi._ Was all she saw.

Shyanne relayed the same message, then continued. '_We've reached a cavern that displays evidence of life. There are tents and other camping supplies here. Some of our psychics can sense a large collection of presences below here, so we will assume you are all still alive until we find you. We are trying to set up several platforms to allow psychics to Teleport you up in groups._'

There was silence for several seconds. Remni and Eti shared a nervous look.

_We hope you are all well. We will get you out soon._

The note fluttered free from the metagross' psychic grasp, and fell to the crystal floor.

A dozen people began talking all at once, their too-loud voices echoing through large cavern. Throughout the noise, Remni could only make out a few sentences.

"They're still looking for us…"

"We'll be fine, just a little longer!"

"Maybe we should keep our pokémon in their balls this time…"

"What do we do with this pokémon? Bring it back up?"

"Teleporting everyone is going to take a long time…"

"Do we need to move? Open the ceiling?"

The atmosphere wound down into a tense silence as the trainers began to settle in. Eventually, their happiness grew. A small group of Johtoans danced in groove in the floor. It was a kind of excited, erratic dance and someone played tinny techno music through a small radio. Some others joked and laughed.

No matter where Remni went, Uvi hopped after her. Tanner followed along beside Uvi, not letting the pidgeot out of her sight. Remni trailed around the cavern for longer than necessary, just to watch them together. Uvi was significantly taller and wider than Tanner, but the togekiss still flared her wings and prepared to fight the pidgeot if need be. Amused and distracted, she walked by Tamora and Michi and caught the tail end of their conversation.

"I'm gonna go hit something," Michi growled, and vanished. Tamora watched Michi for only a moment, then wandered off. Remni stared after both of them for several seconds, then spun back around at a touch on her arm.

Eti had appeared. "This is good news," she said, reassuringly. "I'm going to go find Alexei and Risa, do you want to come with me?"

Remni made to nod, but a jerking movement in the background caught her eye. Keith was gesturing widely and looking very ruffled. Anna stood before him. He leaned in to say something, but Tamora slotted herself between the two and pushed him back. Reise and two other trainers that stood with them stiffened, then the entire group started yelling. Within seconds, Tamora had a pokéball in hand.

Despite the aggressive actions, Remni felt drawn to them. "Uh, not yet. I want to see what they're arguing about. Maybe I can… I've learnt a lot of calming techniques from dealing with my own anxiety, maybe I can help them?" Remni tried to explain, grasping at other ideas and presenting them to Eti as the other girl stayed quiet.

After a few moments of contemplation, Eti raised an eyebrow. "You know you don't have to make excuses to me if you don't want to do what I am doing."

"I-I know…" Remni said mareepishly. "But…I'm not just going to disappear without a reason."

Eti chuckled, and patted her shoulder. "Have fun with your new friends, help out if you want but do not stress yourself out. We will all be out soon. I will see you later?"

"For sure." Remni smiled reassuringly, and watched as Eti disappeared into the crowd of trainers that milled about. She took a deep breath and turned back around. Keith was talking again, and everyone was just as tense. She felt nervous, but not more than normal. She started to walk over.

'_You owe them nothing,_' Carrow said, suddenly and in a very cool tone.

Remni startled, but kept walking. '_Are you talking to me now?_' His presence in her mind went cold, almost enough to make her shiver.

But he didn't appear. '_No,_' he said curtly, and his mental presence dissolved. Despite the clear negative reaction, she felt happy.

Reise yelled something, and she shook it off. _Find a task and stick to it. Focus on what you're doing. _She breathed in again, and went to them.

"He's in pain, and you want me to just hand him over to some civilians?" Keith was halfway through another huge gesture and hissed words when Remni trotted over. Tamora had moved off to the side and Anna had a hand on Tamora's wrist. Reise gripped the back of Keith's shirt, but no one was moving so it was hard to tell if it was to hold them back, to ground themselves or for something else. The other trainers had cleared off nervously, apart from the other ranger- Lisa.

"Keith," Anna said, firmly but with the emotional depth that only came from familiarity. Remni watched Keith's squared shoulders slump, and Reise and Tamora seemed to relax. She wondered for how long they'd all been together. "Whether they will be civilians or not, the steelix must be looked at by medical officers. Due to the unique situation, it is very likely that some of Hoenn's scientists will wish to examine him as well. We both are aware of the crossover rates for trainers and medical officers, as well as scientists."

"Yeah," Keith growled, but it lacked the vicious edge that laced his previous words. "They aren't _high._ How will a non-trainer understand how to handle him?"

"Need I remind that _you_ are a non-trainer?" Reise muttered.

"Don't get involved," Tamora warned.

"Oh? And what were you doing, jumping in the way like that? Trying to be Michi again?" Reise's comeback had a hard edge that had even Anna rocking back on her heels.

"Trying to be- _I'm trying to prevent a fight._"

"Enough," Anna said lightly. Too lightly. The others didn't listen.

"Reise how could you _say_ something like that?!" Keith exclaimed, forgetting his own argument.

"That is both incorrect a_nd _none of your business," Tamora snarled at Reise, her words becoming more formal as her anger grew fangs. Abruptly, Remni was reminded of the way Michi had gone for that trainer that threatened her team.

"Are you sure about that? Especially when-"

A burst of red light interrupted Reise, who yelped and backed off. Keith was forced in a different direction as the released pokémon took shape. It was tan with a dark brown main, and stomped its hooves until each of the trainers backed up.

"Heya, Cali," Keith greeted, the quickest to calm down.

Reise and Tamora were still glaring daggers at each other, but the tauros stomped again and lashed its tail to drag their attention away from each other and towards it.

"This is a completely unnecessary fight, and all three of you know it. If Reucali and I have to physically pick each of you up and put you back down in separate corners, we will," Anna said. Her voice was smooth and cold.

The others relaxed slowly. Remni watched them, unsure if she should say something yet.

"Let's start from the beginning. Keith, you don't want to give the steelix away, but you know that we have to," Anna continued.

Keith crossed his arms. "We don't have to give it away."

"Would you like to be kicked out of the region? We have to cooperate with Hoenn authorities. We do not have the right to make these decisions."

Keith looked away, straight at the steelix.

"I know that you are…attached. But we have to abide by the law."

"And if the law is wrong?" Reise inquired. When Anna looked at him, he mimicked Keith's earlier pose and crossed his arms.

"That is not something we get to decide."

"You want to start a rebellion?" Tamora hissed.

"_Enough._" This one was far more serious and downright glacial. All three of them stopped speaking at once. Anna squared her shoulders, and met each of their eyes one by one, holding them steady. The others broke away before she did. Keith was visibly trembling. "We will talk about this later, as a group. For now, we need to focus on what we are here for."

Keith moved to bare his teeth, but his breath shuddered in his lungs and he said nothing.

"Keith?" Tamora asked in concern.

His head was down and his shoulders were shuddering.

"Deep breaths buddy. Come on," Reise coaxed, rubbing the palm of his hand against Keith's shoulder.

"Hey uh, let me help," Remni stepped forward. She recognised the urgent look in Keith's eyes and the way his fingers trembled. "Hey, Keith, it's Remni. Can you hear me?"

He nodded shakily.

"Okay, I'm going to take your hand, just keep breathing." She waited for his nod, then scooped his hand up. His fingers trembled against hers. "Okay, count them and breathe with me, okay?" She pushed each finger up, one-by-one, counting out the seconds to breathe in, hold and out again. Quicker than she expected, his breaths began to come easier. She kept her eyes on his and continued to quietly encourage him, but her skin prickled with the knowledge that the other three trainers watching her. This was something she'd done hundreds of time, something she knew very well, but in front of these strong, unknown trainers she still felt nervous.

Fingers interlaced with hers, and all of a sudden Keith's smiling face dipped into her field of view. "Keith?"

"Thank you, Remni."

She nodded and dropped their hands. "You're welcome. Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah…I've never…had something like that. Well, similar. But not the same."

Remni nodded. "It's hard to deal with. When your whole body betrays you like that and you can't control it. But don't- don't let it hurt you. You can fight them off."

"You get those? Bad ones?"

"Yeah. For a long time."

"You're strong, huh?" He raised his eyebrows in interest.

Remni blinked, and stepped back nervously.

Reise moved over to Keith's side, and patted his shoulder. "Stop laying on the heavy stuff, let her be." He turned to look at her, a sincere kind of smirk. It was strange- a smile but kind of sharp, but there was nothing in his eyes to suggest aggression. "Thanks for that."

"It was no problem. I wanted to- help."

"By my count, you've helped us twice," Tamora said, tapping two fingers against her palm.

"Ah- it… Like I said before, we're all down here, we need to work together."

"And yet," Tamora mused.

"And yet," Anna echoed. "And yet. Let us know if we can help."

Remni thought of her friends, lost somewhere in the thrum of people. Not out of reach, but requiring a search through dozens of others to reach. "I'd love…" she said. "A distraction." Once it came out, it sounded so open-ended. But she was a trainer, talking to trainers, so the response was what you'd expect.

"A battle?" Keith asked, eyes glittering.

Reise scoffed. "Like you're in the right mindset for it. Let Tamora have this."

Tamora perked up at that, then looked to Anna, who shrugged but gave an almost imperceptible nod.

Reise and Keith shared another look, with Keith tilting his head in confusion. But Reise raised an eyebrow, and Keith backed down anyway.

Tamora stepped over lightly. "Do you have any battle preferences?"

Remni shrugged. "We like double battles, but I think single is better for now. Maybe three-on-three or four-on-four?"

"I think you should decide."

"Maybe four…" _Carrow wasn't really talking to her after all. And… _"Oh. Three?" She'd forgotten about Jackal and Salur the manectric's fight. It was too early to risk them fighting again. "Not your manectric, if that's okay?"

"That's fine." Tamora smiled. "Come this way."

The natural dips and hills in the crystal easily split the caverns into a series of various-sized areas- almost like rooms. They found one far away from the others trainers.

Tamora made a show of pushing three pokéballs up her sleeve, while Remni unbuttoned her jacket, and set each of her own pokéballs into her belt. '_Start slow,_' she reminded herself. '_Play defence until you know what you're up against. This is not-_'

"Hey Remni! Let's have a good battle!" Tamora called.

'_This is not a league battle._' She thought to herself, then repeated the words again. '_This is for fun._'

They threw both pokéballs at the same time.

Quil screeched in delight as she appeared, then immediately flew up. On Tamora's side, a long, flat pokémon with a dark blue back appeared. It chuffed in interest. Remni remembered seeing a similar, larger pokémon with Keith.

"Air Slash!" she called. "Keep your distance!"

"Bubblebeam! Fill the area!" Tamora instructed.

The mantine immediately began blowing out bubbles. A thin layer floated across the floor beneath it.

A blade of white energy whistled through, popping several bubbles. It bounced off of the mantine's rubbery hide, but sent the pokémon careening back. The flying-type part of its nature added to its natural buoyancy and it took a few more seconds to settle. It went straight back to blowing bubbles.

They continued to trade blows- the mantine took the Air Slashes like they were nothing, and continued to pump out bubbles.

Finally, Quil lost patience. She screeched, and spun through the air. She corkscrewed down through the air popping bubbles as she went. She stuck a glancing blow directly down the mantine's back, and blood began to well up.

Abruptly, Quil twisted in the air.

Remni's eyes widened and she jerked forward. Quil's wingbeats became erratic, and she dropped before diving up again. She looked at the bubbles in confusion. They were the only difference. The one closest to her had the same shiny-wet sheen most bubbles had, but a dark purple back something gleamed beneath it. She brushed a nail against the surface to pop it, and watched as a plume of dark energy dissolved into the air.

"Ah, you are perceptive," Tamora commented.

"Quil! Follow my voice back! What's in these bubbles?" she demanded.

"Shaye can materialise her Confuse Ray into physical energy that sticks- and an excess of energy poured into the Bubblebeam attack keeps the ghost-type energy from dissipating. But when your skarmory tore right through them…"

Remni bit her lip. Quil had been dosed with who knows how many mini-Confuse Rays.

But a little confusion was nothing new.

"Land and use Air Slash."

Quil fluttered to the floor, using the crystal to ground herself, then threw forward several blades of air that slashed through the remaining bubbles.

"So quick to take out a strategy that took us so long. Rock Slide!"

Shaye the mantine glowed brightly blue, then several chunks of crystal floated up from the ground surrounding it. They turned in the air slowly, then launched at Quil.

"Send it back!"

Quil glowed as well, still dizzy from the Confuse Ray, but only needing to let the energy out to seek out the 'rocks' on its own.

The crystals stopped mid-air.

Quil visibly tensed, and huge droplets of water fell from Shaye's underbelly as the rocks vibrated in the ar. They wavered between the two for several long moments.

"Oh, you sneaky thing," Tamora commented. "Drop it and use Air Slash!"

The rocks twitched, then flew violently back towards the mantine as Quil gained full control, but her eyes had yet to open, and the crystals shattered harmlessly around the mantine. Only a handful made contact.

"You too, Quil! Barrage it!"

Quil sent out a number of Air Slashes. Most missed, but two intercepted the incoming attack. Three more glanced off of the mantine's thick skin.

Remni held her breath as Quil shook herself. "End it!"

Quil spun like a top and launched herself forward.

Shaye jerked up, and threw rocks directly into Quil's face.

Remni covered her mouth as Quil went tumbling to the ground. The skarmory shuffled her wings as she tried to right herself but Remni returned her.

Shaye went back to Tamora.

Remni rolled two different pokéballs between her hands, then tossed one. Tamora copied her.

Another steelix showed up and Remni twitched at the sight of it. Too many steelix in too little time. Asio stomped uneasily, tossed her antlers, then walked forward.

_Take it slow…take it fast… _Remni tossed up the options in her head. _Let Asio take the lead or lead Asio..._ "Do what you want, Asio!"

"Dig, Sabyr!" The steelix disappeared.

The crystal shattered, and the diamond dust leftover shimmered in the air for several seconds. Asio slashed her antlers and backed up, then leapt to the side as Sabyr resurfaced. She trotted away in an almost playful move and Remni let her shoulders relax. _Let her fight._

Sabyr Dug underground again, and Asio cantered closer, then leapt up onto a nearby hill.

Sabyr resurfaced.

"Throw something," Tamora said, idle like a suggestion.

Sabyr grinned in that wide-lipped way that Remni had learnt was characteristic of the iron snake pokémon. The steelix shivered all over, then rolled. Rocks flew through the air, battering the ground around Asio. The stantler easily jumped away.

"Let it run itself down, then Jump Kick!"

Asio trotted back and forth, attracting the rocks until they stopped coming. Then she ran at Sabyr, dodged around its clamping teeth and landed on its back, then kicked off. Sabyr's rocks continued to miss the agile stantler, who rolled in mid-air and kicked off of the steelix when she could, and swiped the rocks away with her antlers when she couldn't.

Tamora let out a low, impressed whistle.

Eventually, Asio startled slowing down and Sabyr couldn't bring anymore rocks or crystals. The steelix eventually arched through the air and full-body-tackled Asio. The stantler's leg slipped in her exhaustion, and she slid down a crevice.

"Enough!" Remni shouted, panicked.

The steelix drew back as Tamora gestured, and Asio stayed folded up in the crevice. "Is she alright?" Tamora called.

Asio whickered and Remni sighed. "Come here," Remni said.

Asio easily slid to her feet and galloped over to Remni. The whole time, Remni watched her ankles, knees and the shoulder joints. But there were no twitches or jolts, and Asio did not slip again.

A section of the floor shattered, and Sabyr fell into it with a hiss. Asio looked pleased, but Remni hadn't seen her do anything.

"We're good, but I think she's out for now." Asio snorted and stamped her hooves, but Remni shook her head. "Getting injured down here is a terrible idea, love," she said, trying to soothe her.

"No, we'll call it," Tamora said diplomatically, and shrugged her shoulders. "Sabyr's playing games on purpose." The steelix in question rolled in the shattered crystal happily. Tamora left the steelix to it and pulled out another pokéball.

Asio lipped at Remni's cheek, and she cooed back, then lifted her hand and rubbed Asio's cheek. "Come on, we'll go harder when we're out of the caves. Trust me with this one."

Tanner shot out of her pokéball like a dart and circled the immediate area. On Tamora's side, a huge dark hound clawed the ground.

Shiny silver horns, a big smiling muzzle and wide eyes flashed through her mind. "Oh." _Jackal in the forest. Her, him and Carrow in the cavern above._

The houndoom grinned and trotted up and down. Tanner landed and cocked her head.

"Denri, say hi," Tamora said.

"Hey!" Remni called when the houndoom grinned. "Did we meet you in the tunnels? Earlier?" She enlarged Jackal's pokéball.

Tamora looked confused, but nodded when Remni asked to let out her other teammate.

Jackal appeared in a flash, and looked around in confusion. "Ray?" he asked.

"Is that your friend?" Remni asked, and gestured to the houndoom. "That's Tamora's houndoom, his name is Denri. Is that who we saw upstairs?"

Jackal cocked his head to the side, then looked between the dark/fire-type and his trainer. He purred, then got up quickly.

"Ah- Tanner, back up here," Remni called when Jackal loped down to the makeshift arena.

The houndoom squared its shoulders, then slumped down into a sit when Tamora called, "Take it back, Denri."

The luxray and houndoom met nose to nose, then Jackal stepped back and danced back around.

"They've met before? When?" Tamora asked, curious.

"They were playing in the forest while we were camping. And…earlier in the first cave. I can't remember for how long, Jackal found- him?" she said distractedly, unfamiliar with houndoom dimorphism. Both of her eyes were locked on the two pokémon as they dodged around each other.

Tamora nodded. "Yeah, he's male."

"They were running around, and he was with us when the ground fell through. Carrow grabbed all three of us."

"You saved him? I couldn't find him until after, I thought he'd gotten lost or something and you-" Tamora made a choking sound that made Remni jump. "Thank you. I… I owe you, another one it seems."

"It's fine, we'll- it's," Remni reassured.

"No, it's not fine for me. I don't like to owe people. Please."

"Look, uh. Come see me when we get out." Remni smiled, trying to reassure her again. "We can talk about it when we get out."

"When we get out," Tamora promised.

"We'll balance it out."

Jackal nosed into Denri's cheek, then jumped back. Denri followed forward and rubbed their sides together.

"Balance…" Tamora mused quietly.

And then the world exploded.

Jackal threw himself backwards with lightning-speed, and knocked Remni to the ground. Tanner winged upwards and shattered a falling stone to cover her trainer.

Yells rang out along the cavern. A ripple of pink energy flew through the room and snagged each and every falling rock, crumbling them to dust.

An alakazam hit the floor in the centre of it, both arms raised. A trainer-laden flygon swooped down beside it. Several alakazam, gardevoir, medicham, even a single lunatone and solrock hovered down beside them, all with their arms out and slowly psychologically lowering the sheets of rock. A wave of purple pink energy rippled through the cavern, shattering the floating rocks into dust, which then slipped through the other psychic's hold.

There was a lull as the two groups took each other in. A second later, Lumine touched down in her bronzong's arms, and looked around the room. Behind the bronzong was another one, slightly smaller but shinier. Resko slipped off of its shoulder, and tripped on the way over to his sister.

They both looked around, then Lumine ran towards Remni, and dropped a pokéball on the way. Remni froze, and her sister grabbed Remni by the shoulders. "This is for worrying us," she grumbled under her breath.

Then her mightyena tackled Remni to the ground.

"Oh my gods- Get! Lumine!" Remni sputtered as the dark-type rolled on top of her. He rubbed his cheek against her face, and his paws scrabbled against her sides. "Mala! Mala, c'mon!"

"Lumi, why are you like this," Resko said in a monotone. He clapped his hands over his mouth to stifle his laughter when Mala slurped Remni's cheek. "_Lumi._"

Mala the mightyena's head bumped into Remni's jaw, jarring the joint. It ached to laugh, but she couldn't stop. "Mala! Get off!" The mightyena rolled again, and Jackal bounded over. The luxray snapped his teeth, not angry but demanding, but before he could grab for the mightyena Tanner darted down. The togekiss side-glared at Jackal, then reached out with one clawed foot and grabbed the dark-type by the scruff, then hauled him off. Remni sat up, looked around, and immediately covered her face.

The centre of the crystal cave held a dozen psychic-types and twice as many rangers and trainers, all clean and startled. They were surrounded by a circle of grubby cave-going trainers. All of them stared at the three trainers and their pokémon. Tanner had landed on Remni's shoulder, Jackal pinned Mala beneath his paw and watched the mightyena whine and struggle in amusement.

Remni grabbed his scruff and hauled him off. "Where are your damn manners?" she growled, burying her face in his fur to avoid the interested looks from the newcomers. Jackal arched up against her and purred, rubbing his shoulder against her ribs and already forgetting about Mala's troublemaking.

Resko and Lumine stood shoulder-to-shoulder, and their bronzong hung overhead. Everyone was staring at them.

A particularly tall trainer cleared their throat. "Well, this is very sweet. But we all need to leave as soon as we can." One of the rangers raised their arms, addressing the entire group. "When you're ready, we can send you up one or two at a time."

Their group of saviours had punched holes in the crystal and earth at kilometre intervals up the walls inside. A psychic-type was set up in each one, easily Teleporting each person up from hole to hole. They were too small to hold more than one person. A few of the trainers with injuries were herded to the front, with a growing line behind them. A much smaller number, including Remni and Anna's group, milled around the crystal cave's edges, not minding when they left.

"Battle's over?" Tamora asked mildly. Denri the houndoom rested both paws on her shoulders, leaning against her back with his chest. She hunched under his weight, but kept her shoulders up.

Remni shrugged. "Tanner would love to keep going, but Jackal would be mad about it." She rested one hand on Jackal's head, and smoothed her fingers over his ears affectionately. "We don't fight friends."

"Sounds dumb. How'd you survive any competitions?" Michi commented. She strode back over after the first trainers began being Teleported up, and leaned forward onto a crystal spire.

Lumine jerked her head around to glare at Michi, but Remni put a hand on her older sister's shoulder. "Ah, I should probably rephrase that. We don't fight new friends. Jackal wouldn't get on with Tanner if she ruined a new relationship," she explained, then self-consciously rubbed the back of her hand over her face when Michi raised her eyebrows at her.

"New friends huh…" Michi trailed off into silence, then busied herself picking at her fingers. "Sounds like a good idea. _Tamora._"

Tamora stared back. "What did I do?" she asked in an odd tone.

Remni looked over to the two of them and noted the slight smiles on both their faces, even as they looked away from each other.

"Alright," Keith said, startling the three of them. He crossed his arms, and glared at Anna, who looked back steadily. "We've decided."

Reise sidled up, and threw an arm around Keith's shoulders. "Relax, already. This is what we have to do. You call your ranger contacts when we get up there, and we _will _make sure that we see him." He squeezed Keith's shoulder in reassurance.

"I'll do whatever I need to, to keep him safe and us in contact with whoever has him," Anna promised.

"You're handing him over?" Tamora asked. She blinked in surprise.

"Don't really have a choice now, do we?" Keith asked in a bitter tone. Reise squeezed his shoulder again.

"Yes, we do. And we are going to make the right one," Anna said diplomatically.

Keith sighed, let his shoulders relax and leaned into Reise, just lightly. "I know."

"I'll help too," Remni offered, then bit her lip when the others looked at her. "You want to protect the steelix right? If I can help…I want to."

"You are sweet, aren't you?" Anna mused, then tilted her head to look at Remni.

Remni blushed fully now, and clapped her hands over her cheeks. The movement drew Michi's attention, making her eyebrows jump. It cut through the remaining tension, and Keith chuckled.

"Do you always have to act like this around new people, Anna? Stop embarrassing her," he admonished, but very politely. He lowered his gaze when Anna looked at him.

"Thanks," Remni said. "I…appreciate it? I do want to help though."

Anna smiled back. "Ask Keith and Tamora for their numbers, we'll call you if we need you."

"Next group!" One of the ranger's shouted. The cavern was about down to half its previous population.

"We need to talk to someone as soon as possible," Reise said. "Whoever's going to take him needs to know everything we've seen so far, and what we've done to help."

"And how to be with him," Keith added.

"Be with him?" Remni asked.

"How to be gentle with him," Anna explained.

Reise and Keith shared a look, then Reise slipped away. "I'll speak with someone, stay here." Keith touched his wrist as he went.

Michi's eyes practically glowed, the unnatural crimson colour of them growing brighter as she grinned at Keith. "Made up, did you?" she asked. She flicked her fingers between Keith and the retreating Reise.

Keith rolled his eyes, but his cheeks coloured. "Talk to me about that when you two make up," he fired back. He waved a hand between her and Tamora, who was ignoring all of them to speak quietly with Anna.

Michi let out an aborted burst of laughter, but it was the way Tamora froze that made Remni's eyes widen with understanding. "Are you two…?"

"Next!" the ranger barked. Remni jumped about a foot.

"Easy, huh? Forget sweet. You're a real skittish thing," Michi commented, then proper her head in her hands. "Like those pink cats."

"The skitty?" Reise asked mildly.

"Yeah," Michi answered. "You're like a skitty."

Remni blinked, startled. "Wha- I'm not like a skitty!"

"Leave her be, Michi," Anna said, disapprovingly.

"Coming from you!" Michi shot back, then took a step away when Anna stared at her. "Uh, sure. See ya around, Skitty!" She grinned wide, all sharp teeth and strained lips, then jogged off through the crowds.

"I…apologise for her," Anna said. "She had a…strange childhood."

"A _strict _one," Tamora commented, her voice laced with bitterness.

"We all did," Anna amended.

"Next!" barked the ranger. There were only two or three dozen trainers left.

Something fluttered against her shoulders, then Tanner alighted on her arm. Jackal tucked his nose into the crook of her elbow, and she looked around in the ensuing silence. Eti, Alexei and Risa stood in a huddled group far in the corner, visible now that the other trainers moved. She twitched, not sure whether to go to them or wait, but Jackal and Tanner had already boxed her in, and once Eti saw her, she waved and dragged the other two over.

Eti wrapped her up in a hug before anyone could do anything, and Alexei and Risa hovered at a distance, looking faintly guilty. She pulled away, holding on to Remni's forearms. "Let's go see the sun again."

The Teleportations were quick and professional. Each notch in the wall held a silent psychic who sent them up to the next hollow after exactly thirty seconds. Some had even formed hourglasses out of compressed sand and soil.

The world around them changed slowly from crystal back into rock, then dark soil and soft sand. Then bones and tree roots. Then…

The sun was so, so bright. It burned their retinas and ached worse than even the false light summoned by pokémon in the cavern itself. Remni's cold skin prickled uncomfortably, then slowly warmed. She stretched for one long moment, luxuriating in the heat. Tanner stretched her wings with a soft coo and took off, and Jackal stretched with Remni, arching his back to try and match her height. Around them were the rest of the cavern trainers- all stretching, laughing or crying. A pack of white clad paramedics flowed through the crowd, tending to each person with the kind of speed that Remni hadn't seen even in the hospitals reserve for dead or dying trainers. There were few injuries, and none significant.

A civilian in a pristine black suit, flanked by two scientists who were in turn flanked by another two rangers had cornered Keith. Reise hovered between them, clearly distressed. The stare-off rapidly devolved into a heated argument. One of the rangers grabbed for Reise, who shoved them back. Once out of the way, one of the scientists moved forward. Keith backed up, and Remni saw the flash in his hands. The steelix' pokéball!

"No!" someone shouted, their identity discernible at this distance. People were beginning to turn towards the small group.

The first ranger pulled back, letting one of the scientists block Reise. They then snatched the pokéball from Keith's hands.

Anna was on them in an instant, her hands wrapping around the ranger's wrists and forcing them to their knees. But the ball had already been tossed to the solemn civilian. They held the pokéball with the tips of their fingers, as if it were a dirty tissue. Keith raged behind the other scientist and other ranger, trying to move passed them without hitting them. His mouth was twisted up in a snarl, but his eyes were wide and fearful. The ranger closest to him looked concerned, then torn. Finally, they stepped back, dragging the other scientist with them. Keith approached the civilian, whose resigned, quiet confidence dropped. The civilian backed up. Tripped.

It happened in slow motion- like the deity of time had arrived and dragged the seconds out with its own hands. The civilian's arms pinwheeled, the pokéball dropped. Someone yelped.

A blinding flash of red filled the area. That's when the screaming began.

It was total chaos. The steelix, looking far larger in the dense group of people, crushed several people under his immense bulk just from his release. He roared in confusion, and twisted about to look around. Several people were knocked to the ground. Between his roaring, the people screaming and the stampede of footsteps as people ran, it was impossible to hear anything.

Tanner pierced Remni's shoulder hard, forcing her to jerk back into alertness. She returned Jackal, and was quickly jerked up into the sky and away. The ground pulled away rapidly. Other trainers with their flyers filled the air around her, but more had been quick to retreat across the land. The civilians that had arrived to help were slower. A paramedic went under the steelix' tail and did not resurface. In the chaos, Remni lost track of everyone.

Two other flashes blurred her vision, and when she blinked the tears away she could see Shyanne the metagross and Neutronus the exeggutor floating high above the ground. They encircled the steelix with glowing psychic energy.

But it wasn't enough.

The steelix twisted and thrashed, snapping the psychic energy like over stretched elastic. It hung half in the air and half trailed along the ground.

Other trainers seem to come to their senses and a multitude of other psychic-types flared into existence. Thick threads of psychic energy began to flow from them, snaking around the thrashing steelix and lifting it into the air. The rangers brought in to help had moved to safe distance, half of them herding civilians and trainers away, the other half using their capture stylers to subdue the steelix.

Several paramedic-ranger pairs ducked between the people and went for the people that had been crushed by the steelix' weight. There were splatters of blood on the ground, and cracks where the steelix' thrashing had caused minor earthquakes. Broken, unmoving bodies lay across them.

The steelix continued to thrash despite the half dozen capture stylers running rings around it. The psychics tried to move it away from the injured people and over to an empty part of the land, but holding it was difficult enough let alone pushing it around. A section of energy blew out like a candle, and the end third of the steelix swung- like a pendulum or a club. A number of rangers leapt out of the way as the tip of its tail carved trench through the packed soil and rock. It immediately thrashed again, throwing up dust and dirt.

Something glinted, and Remni looked down at the sleek black muzzle of a gun. She gasped, and gripped Tanner's feet harder. One of the civilians- the one in the suit who had dropped the pokéball in the first place. It was impossible to tell exactly what was in it, but the barrel looked long. It could be a simple sedative.

Or it could be concentrated seviper-poison darts.

Remni tugged on Tanner's foot, urging the togekiss to descend. But Tanner cawed unhappily- almost raucously, and began circling the area instead.

"We need to help!" Remni shouted over the harsh beating of the togekiss' wings. Tanner didn't react. '_Carrow,_' Remni asked internally. ''_Where are you?' _But there was no answer. She looked around searchingly, hoping for something positive. The psychics had re-wrapped the steelix' lashing tail, at least, but sections of the bind were continuing to break and reform around it. "Tanner! Aura Sphere! At their feet!" She lashed out with her own foot, gesturing to the armed civilian. "Don't let them shoot!"

She felt the _whoosh _of air as the ball of pure fighting-type energy flew through the air. She had to wait for Tanner to circle around again, but the spot where the gun-toting civilian stood was enshrouded with dust. Unhappy, but unable to do anything, she continued to search.

In amongst the bodies were paramedics, and a starburst of yellow that drew her attention. Remni blinked in surprise, and squinted, but it was hard to see. She jerked downwards in Tanner's grip, trying to urge the togekiss down, but only succeeded in lightly tearing the shoulders of her jacket. Tanner's claws were tight like iron coils around her arms, and every time she jerked, the sharp-tipped claws dug in just slightly. "Just a little lower," she pleaded.

'_Take her, bird,_' Carrow ordered, out of nowhere.

Tanner snorted, then her wing beats suddenly stopped. They dropped rapidly, and Remni jerked her head up to see that Tanner's wings were pinned to her body with bands of pink energy.

"Carrow!" she shouted, shocked and distressed. She slapped at Tanner's pokéball, which swallowed the togekiss up.

'_What are you doing?!_' Carrow hissed as she fell. Without Tanner's wide body slowing them, she dropped like a stone.

The thick psychic energy in the air slowed her descent, not enough to prevent her from breaking bones, but enough for her to release Quil, this time below her. The skarmory adjusted instantly. She beat her wings rapidly to slow their descent, then climbed again.

"Go lower, Quil! Please," Remni said, patting a the skarmory's back. She cawed an affirmative, and slowly drew closer to the ground.

By now, most of the injured people had been lifted onto stretchers. A few of the battered but not significantly injured ones were being walked over to the rest of the survivors, most with another under their arm, holding them up.

Remni sought out the yellow spot she'd seen earlier. It was Keith, up close she was sure of it. He was on his hands and knees, shuffling around in the dirt. His bare fingers combed uselessly through the loose sand. She leapt free of Quil, crouching and hissing as it jarred her knees. "Thank you, Quil," she said, then returned the skarmory. She jogged towards Keith, skidding to a stop beside him. "What do you need?"

The chaos had churned up the ground so badly that it took them a long time to find what they needed. Remni sent Tanner and Quil in search of Eti and Detonate. Her magnezone's magnetic abilities would snatch the steelix' pokéball up from wherever it had rolled to.

'_I didn't…_' Carrow was in her head again, lost and unsure. The weight of his emotions rolled through her, and she stilled as it took over.

'_I can't do this right now, Carrow. I have to help Keith. We have to stop this._'

'_I…_'

'_Please help us. We can sort this out later- as soon as possible. But…I need you now._'

The dust around them exploded, and Carrow flashed back into existence. He hovered beside her for one long moment, long enough for her to scramble to her feet and walk near to him. He opened all of his eyes, locking on to her as he raised his arms. The dust flew up, up, up. The dirt around them smoothed- the hills feel flat and the crevices raised up to match. The change spread out in a slow circle.

In the dirt between Remni's feet, a pokéball bloomed. She dove for it, then tossed it over to Keith. "Do it now! Quick!" she shouted.

They both spun towards the steelix. Most of the psychic energy had been peeled away from it, and it hung low in the air, still struggling violently. Keith hit the button, but nothing happened.

'_Too far,_' Carrow said.

"I need to get closer!" Keith yelled, and ran.

Remni followed his run, but a nearby figure made her heart stop. The civilian from earlier had pulled free of the clinging dust, and strode up a hill closer to the struggling steelix. The gun pointed directly at it. She panicked.

"Carrow get Keith and Teleport him closer! That civ is going to kill it!" she screamed. Carrow vanished in a plume of energy.

The civilian stopped, looked down his arm, down the barrel of the gun.

Carrow appeared beside Keith, then disappeared.

Rocks flew through the air, disrupting the space between the civilian and the steelix.

Keith reappeared below it.

Then.

Nothing.

The steelix still struggled in the air, now only held by half a dozen loops of psychic energy. The ground was littered with the kneeling bodies of exhausted psychics.

Carrow swept his psychic energy through the air, clearing it of dust. Remni could see Keith frantically shaking and mashing the pokéball.

The steelix slumped, and was slowly lowered to the ground.

'_Come,_' Carrow was beside her, then all of a sudden, she stood beside Keith.

The gun clattered to the ground- a hollow, far-off sound.

Bright purple fletching glowed in the bare skin of the steelix' damaged throat.

The pokéball in Keith's hands slowly dimmed, darker and darker. The light went out, and it clicked once. It lay unoccupied in his hands.

Dead.

_Author's Notes: I tried to make it clear in the chapter, but just to make it absolutely, 100% clear- Lumine is speaking about a different sister, Remni's family is kinda big (*breeder jokes* *chortling*). Anyway. _

_WOW_

_This chapter was impossible to write and it literally took me more than three months. I was working on it before chapter eight was published. I knew how I wanted the steelix to go, but not how to reach that point which is infuriating. Always remember to plan ahead, folks. From here, we get a little more into the 'conspiracy theory' side of the plot. But it's all coming in now. This is the majority of the setup done, from here on out, I'm going for the plot's throat for real._

_Ah, in retrospect, the Remni/Tamora battle seems a little long to me. Does anyone else feel like that? Battle length is something I'm really struggling with._

_That said, I hope you liked it! Please let me know what you think!_

**Team Lists-**

**Remni**\- **Carrow** (claydol), **Jackal** (luxray), **Nikko** (sharpedo), **Quil** (skarmory), **Asio** (stantler), **Tanner** (togekiss).

**Alexei**\- **Wisteria** (staraptor), **Cineraria** (luxray), **Lilium** (roserade), **Lotus** (golduck), (weavile), (hippowdon).

**Eti**\- **Detonate [Nate]** (magnezone), **Ricochet [Ric]** (rampardos), **Deadshot [De]** (lucario), **Metronome [Rono]** (kricketune), **Backlash [Lassie] **(floatzel), **Emanate [Em] **(alakazam).

**Risa**\- **Twit** (abomasnow), **Denno** (crobat), **Renna** (rapidash), **Annushka** (gyarados), **Leila **(mismagius), **Tar **(rhyperior).

**Cassidy**\- **Arrow** (banette), (swampert), (shiftry), (masquerain), (aggron), (electabuzz).

**Fiona**\- (kirlia), (sceptile), (altaria), (swalot), (magneton), (armaldo).

**Wren**\- (blaziken), (linoone), **Adeline** (gardevoir), (mightyena), (flygon), (walrein).


End file.
